Descent Into Darkness
by mlouden03
Summary: Following an original character from an original town in Kanto, great mysteries surround Gaius. He possesses a strange power that even he is not aware of. Will he ever become aware of this power, and, if he becomes aware, will he use the power for good, or evil? Warning: Violence and death present within the story. This is my first story, I would like reviews and such if possible
1. The Dark Mist and Beginning of Destiny

Introduction: This story follows an original character by the name of Gaius Vi Britannia. Several of the names of characters or places will be borrowed from other media, but the story itself is original. This is my first ever story that I wrote, and would appreciate any feedback/advice/fix information/etc. Please, tell me what you think. This is the first in an ongoing series

Gaius winced in pain as he saw himself enveloped in an ominous black mist. For each second spent in the mist, Gaius could feel the points of a thousand knives, digging into him and cutting at his skin from every direction. He struggled to break free, but was unable to reach beyond the black veil, each attempt seemingly brought the mist tighter around him, now entering his mouth and nose. Gaius started to gag and he found it hard to breathe, as the mist was traveling down into his lungs and throughout every fiber of his body. His eyes started to lose focus, and as he was about to fall to the ground, a shadowy claw-like hand shot out in front of him, emanating from the mist. The hand wrapped it's pointed fingers around Gaius's neck, lifting him up and tightening its grip on his throat and trachea. Gaius tried to scream, but the hand kept squeezing tighter and tighter until his life flashed before his eyes...

Gaius came from Pendragon, a small town in the Southern region of the Kanto region, a little ways Northwest of Pallet Town and Southwest of Veridian City. Pendragon wasn't known for much, except for an odd weather phenomena that not even the top meteorologists could explain; nine months out of the year, dense cloud cover hovered over the quaint village, obscuring the sun twenty-four hours a day. For hundreds of years crops and plants were a luxury that could only be grown for a third of the year.

That was, until eighty years ago, Charles, Gaius's grandfather, developed the town's first indoor greenhouse; it allowed crops to be grown year round, regardless of the fog or even snow. Charles's immense profits from both selling crops and constructing indoor greenhouses for other farmers provided him with enough money to buy a large tract of land on a hill overlooking the village. He then built a large family mansion and greenhouse which dwarfs all other buildings in the small hamlet. His immense wealth brought influence and he and his family quickly rose to the top of the town elite, the family frequently throwing lavish buffets and parties open only to those they deemed worthy. Little had changed in the past eighty years for the family Britannia, as Charles's son Magnus carried on his father's passion for the extravagant, and tried to pass the same predilections to his own son, Gaius.

From the time Gaius was born, he knew emotional hardship and he attempted to shed his family's trend of gluttony and overindulgence. A tragedy struck in Gaius's life when he was just four years old. His mother, Marianne, had been driving the family car back from a long distance drive to Celadon City, when suddenly the car spun out of control and hit a guard rail. Magnus was able to pull his son from the car, but, Marianne was not as fortunate, and she died seconds after impact.

Magnus enrolled Gaius in the most elite elementary school in the region, trying to encourage in him the family's love for the extravagant, and trying to make him move past the horrific car accident. The school was reserved for only heirs or heiresses or the children of other famous celebrities, such as Pokemon professors or actors. While in school, Gaius excelled at all of his classes, attaining the highest marks out of his class every year, and was even advanced a grade ahead due to his high I.Q. and near perfect test scores. Despite all of his academic success, Gaius felt that there was a piece missing from his life, and he sought to discover what that missing piece was.

Gaius discovered his life's missing piece during the first year of his schooling at Business Tech, a private live-in high school for the children of wealthy business owners who sought to train their children to follow in their footsteps. While proficient at math, Gaius still had no interest in his family's fame or fortune, and instead he wanted to make a name for himself. On his fourteenth birthday, his father sent him two gifts, an expensive digital watch and a state of the art smartphone. Rather than simply enjoy his gifts for what they were, Gaius decided to put his brain to the test to challenge himself.

Business Tech had a sophisticated computer network that restricted anything that the school staff deemed "unnecessary for education". Such restrictions included video games, movies, and especially Pokemon. Gaius of course knew what Pokemon were, as he had seen people in the village with them, and had seen maids or butlers use them at his estate from time to time, but his father felt Pokemon only led to lack of discipline and folly, and forbid Gaius from becoming a trainer or even playing with Pokemon when he was a child.

Gaius took apart his digital watch and cell phone and jury-rigged the microchip from the watch into the cell phone to increase thephone's processing power. He then designed a bypass of the school's computer network using the secondary chip to create a wireless hotspot even though his phone lacked the capability. Using his enhanced phone, he was able to freely search online without any filters whatsoever.

At first, Gaius looked at the latest video games, which he knew he would never get to play, and then he looked at all of the movies and TV shows coming out that he would never be allowed to watch. Finally, he decided to search for the one thing he had never been able to experience firsthand but had always had an interest in: Pokemon.

The screen quickly filled with dozens of pictures, professor's reports, links to buy official breeders handbooks, battling guides, and encyclopedias on each Pokemon in the Kanto region. Gaius's eyes grew as he read more and more. evolution guides, Pokemon league rules, where to locate specific Pokemon; Gaius immersed himself in it all and kept reading.

Gaius then logged onto Poketube, the premier video streaming and uploading site for all things Pokemon, and typed in "Famous Pokemon Battles". The top search result was listed as "Latest Championship Challenge", and the video was posted a month ago. Intrigued to see the latest strategies, Gaius clicked the link.  
The screen then filled with a video, which Gaius watched intently.

The two trainers were located in a large open room, with slate or stone flooring, and a large statue of an orange dragon with blue wings situated behind the Champion. The challenger was a young girl, about the same age as Gaius, wearing a pink blouse, grey skirt, and a small straw hat on her head. The champion, clad in a black cloak and blue shirt, sporting red hair and a fair complexion, made the first move.

"Go, Dragonite!" He shouted, grabbing a Pokeball from inside his cloak and throwing it onto the battlefield. A large orange Pokemon with a yellow stomach appeared from the Pokeball. The Pokemon also had small blue wings affixed to its back, a tail protruding from its back, and two odd antennas poking out from its forehead. The trainer then waited for his opponent's Pokemon

She looked at the large Pokemon in front of her, and contemplated her move. "You're the first Pokemon I caught, so I might as well send you first!" She yelled, beaming with energy. She reached to her belt, pulled off a Pokeball and threw it. "Go Munchie!" She yelled, as the ball hit the floor and a small blue Pokemon appeared.

Her Pokemon had two large cones on top of its head, two large eyes, a light blue upper body with a tan mouth and tan patch on her stomach. Gaius could also see small points or spikes at the bottom of its body, and similar looking points at the end of its hands. The Pokemon also had small tan feet with white nails sticking out from the front, which were only visible when the Pokemon moved around the battlefield.

"Munchie, Thunderbolt the Dragonite!" The young girl exclaimed. "Then follow up with an Ice Beam."

Gaius watched the video as the blue Pokemon ran across the field at a surprising speed for his large size, keeping a distance from the large flying Pokemon. Munchlax then closed its eyes, and a bolt of electricity shot out from his body towards his opponent, who was circling the field.

The trainer cloaked in red finally gave his first command "Dragonite, dodge the electricity and counter with a Hyper Beam!"

The large orange Pokemon quickly flew upward with a flap of its wings, completely avoiding the electric shock of the Thunderbolt attack. He then landed in front of his trainer, and small orange and yellow particles gathered in front of the dragon Pokemon's mouth.

"Oh no, Munchie, cancel the Ice Beam, and aim a Solar Beam right at Dragonite's face! If we time it right we could cancel out or overpower his Hyper Beam!" The girl ordered her Pokemon, as Gaius could see her starting to feel the stress of facing such a strong opponent.

"Munch..." The large blue Pokemon muttered, as green particles started to form in front of its mouth.

Both Pokemon launched their attacks at the same moment, both powerful beams of green and yellow met in the middle of the arena, and a large explosion radiated from where the attacks struck each other. The camera that had been recording the battle had apparently been knocked over by the force of the blast, as the picture in the video turned 180 degrees, and then faded to black.

Gaius was surprised that Pokemon could be that powerful, especially with how the smaller Pokemon was able to go toe-to-toe with a Pokemon three times his size. "If I ever have Pokemon have strong as those two, I won't have to stay at home and listen to my father," Gaius thought aloud, "if I ever am able to go out on a journey of my own, I'll be sure to catch Pokemon as strong as Munchlax and Dragonite, no matter what it takes." Gaius sighed, pondering this possible future, and the wish that one day he could control Pokemon as powerful as those that he had just witnessed.

For several weeks Gaius kept on studying and reading everything he could about Pokemon, from how to raise them to be strong, to even the ancient legends of ancient Pokemon. His new field of study eclipsed his schoolwork, and after a month of learning and contemplation of what he wanted out of life, he made an important decision. With a new purpose for his life and new-found determination, Gaius purposely flunked out of Business Tech so he could be sent home where he hoped new possibilities awaited him beyond the school's doors.

Once home, Gaius was verbally lashed by his father Magnus, who spared no limit to show his disappointment in his son. Gaius was stripped of most of his personal belongings by his father, and was forced everyday to clean, from top to bottom, four large rooms in the mansion as punishment for his academic failings. Despite the physical and emotional abuse, Gaius continued to hope and dream that one day he would be able to get a Pokemon of his own, and that one day he would be able to make his own path in the world, and finally leave the shadow of his father and his family name behind.

For months Gaius saved whatever minute amount of funds his father saw fit to give him, and worked any odd jobs he could find to earn him money: from waiter to bike messenger to pizza deliverer. All of the various jobs were an extreme annoyance to Gaius, as he would have rather been out of his small, quaint town and on his own journey. After three months of working, he was able to afford a Pokeball from the Poke-mart. Once he returned home, he decided the bright red and white coloring did not suit his style. He worked for another month to save up enough money to buy metallic paint supplies, and painted his Poke-ball completely black. Gaius looked down at the pitch-black ball, happy in the knowledge that the item represented the first step of him achieving his dream.

Even after he possessed his first Pokeball, Gaius had yet to obtain a Pokemon of his own. He looked high and low for a Pokemon to capture, surveying a large grass-covered field on the edge of town, searching for any signs of movement.

He saw several Rattata and a flock of Pidgey, but without any way to weaken them, they all escaped his ball. He needed his father's signature to obtain a trainer's license and a starter Pokemon from Professor Oak, and he knew his father would never consent to his dream. Faced with this knowledge, he started to grow disheartened, until what started as a regular July morning ended up changing Gaius's life forever.

On July Fourth, Gaius awoke dripped in sweat. He had just experienced the most horrific nightmare of his life, in which he was surrounded by a dark veil which was slowly killing him.

"Wow..what was that?" Gaius thought to himself "I've never had a dream like that..it was so dark..so..horrible..I didn't think I would ever get out. Thank god it was only a dream." As soon as Gaius rose from his bed and his eyes focused on the world around him, he could tell something wrong was. He quickly scanned his surroundings to see if he could determine what was amiss. His room was all in place, all four large bookcases against the far wall, books seemingly undisturbed, all of his school accolades and awards were still neatly hung or placed on his dresser.

"What could be different," he thought as he scrutinized the room in more detail. Despite the appearance of normality, Gaius still had an odd sense in the back of his mind, that something was off, and that something was very, very wrong. Finally, Gaius sniffed the air, and his nose flooded with what could only be the scent of a burning fire.

"What's that smell?" He pondered. "It smells like a bonfire, but we only have those at night during the summer months, there's no reason for father to have one at ten in the morning." Gaius quickly ran a comb through his long black hair, threw on his black t-shirt and grey jeans from the previous night and walked across his large, grey-colored room to reach the doorway. As his hand touched the doorknob, his hand felt intense heat, as if the knob on the other side was engulfed in flames. Incredibly startled by this sensation, he jumped back several feet, and quickly examined his hand. At first glance his hand had no visible damage, and he felt no damage or breaks in his skin after running his fingers against his palm.

"The doorknob felt as hot as a stove or iron," he exclaimed aloud. "There is no way my hand could touch a surface that hot and not be severely burned. Something strange is going on, and it's going on right on the other side of that door!" Determined to figure out what could cause such an oddity, Gaius gripped the hot doorknob and turned it, slowly opening the door and revealing what was on the other side.

As Gaius peered through the open doorway, he could see the master living room was in flames. Streaks of fire rippled across nearly every inch of the walls and ceiling, covering his father's coveted artwork and tapestries and surrounding the priceless chandelier that hung on the raised ceiling. Upon further inspection, none of the objects seemed affected by the blaze. The paintings were perfectly intact, the wallpaper undamaged, and the chandelier still precisely attached above the room. Curious, Gaius reached out and touched the nearest wall to examine the nature of the fire. While hot to the touch as he expected, his hand remained undamaged, just as it did when he grabbed the door knob.

"Something must be causing this...some delusion or trickery or something..there is no way this is a natural phenomenon," Gaius thought aloud, "I must find my father, he should be able to deduce the cause, or at the very least put a stop to this madness." The young man quickly ran across the living room and opened a door that led to his father's hallway, his study and his adjacent bedroom. Gaius tested the fire as he entered the hallway and noticed no change in its behavior or appearance. He quickly went to the study, and looked around. The room was also aflame, with various papers and ledgers strewn about the floor. A quick check of ajoining bathroom proved fruitless, as Magnus was not there, either. Gaius then went down the hallway to his father's bedroom, the only other likely place his father would be.

Gaius opened the bedroom door, quickly looked around the room. All of his father's valuable trinkets and jewels were out of place, and the expensive Arcanine fur rug looked matted and stained black, as if someone had spilled a beverage. A seemingly empty bottle of "Indigo Pride" wine was tipped over at the edge of the rug. He finally could see his father knelt down on next to his bed, trying to stuff wads of cash and other valuables into a small suitcase. Gaius again searched the room, trying to see if he could deduce the cause of these events, but could find no cause. At hearing the door open, his father closed the suitcase and turned to look at his son.

"I..oh Gaius," Magnus exclaimed, "our home must be haunted by vengeful demons who are jealous of our wealth and success. We must flee and have an exorcist or some other mystical figure drive these monsters away!" Magnus wailed, still clutching the stuffed suitcase and holding it against his chest. "I've gotten what I can, and I was going to wake you as soon as I was done here, "Magnus explained, "I'm so glad you were able to wake up and help me. Here, take this suitcase and I can try to load another one before we leave. I want to get the Johto china from the main dining room if we get the chance. You know I paid a small fortune for that stuff, it's coated in real Mt. Silver silver, and that stuff doesn't come cheap."

Gaius looked at his father, he slowly hung his head and looked towards the ground. A minute passed before he began to speak. "You've only cared about the money, haven't you? Success, wealth, fame, that's all you ever cared about, right?" His voice slowly deepened, and he opened his eyes and looked at his father.

Magnus looked up, hoping to explain himself to his son, but what he saw shocked him more than any fire ever could. Gaius's eyes were pitch-black,instead of their normal blueish-grey. There were no pupils or corneas, just simply a pure black coloring that covered his entire eye. "Son, you know I love you. You're everything to me, and I want you to be successful so that you can lead the family business when I retire. Now, there is obviously something strange going on here...with the fire...and with your eyes, but I'm sure we can get it all fixed. Just come with me and we'll take our things and go to a hospital to get you checked out."

"Father, you seem to think there is something wrong with me, or that the fire and my eyes are connected somehow," Gaius chuckled "you're wrong, on both accounts as well." A wide smile spread across Gaius's face, and a dark aura slowly emanated from his body. "You and your parties, and your buffets, and your lavish lifestyle, they were never about caring for me, or even running the company which you claim to love. That was all just for increasing your own profile and making everyone like you..how pathetic you are and how far you have fallen from the great man you could have been. If only you had not eaten half the city on a weekly basis." Gaius sneered and slowly raised his right hand towards his father. "You know, what we have here isn't even a demon, father, it's something much simpler, mere trickery at the hands of a bored passerby. Reveal yourself or perish!" Gaius screamed, seemingly at the air. Within a few seconds, a Gengar appeared a few feet in front of his father, and Gaius laughed at the sight of the ghost Pokemon. "See father, what you were foolish to think as sorcery or a demon was a simple Pokemon. If only you had studied them at all during your life, you would know what ghost Pokemon are capable of. Illusion, misdirection, that's all common to them. Sadly though, this one will have to learn his place in the world." Gaius clenched his fist, and a black aura surrounded Gengar.

The ghost Pokemon shuddered, seemingly under immense pain from the field that encircled him. Gengar looked wide-eyed at the standing human. In all of his travels haunting the Kanto region he had never seen such an occurrence, and would think such an action impossible. The Pokemon tried to phase through the floor, but he was seemingly paralyzed, unable to move an inch or use any of his powers. The flames began to flicker slowly as the ghost Pokemon felt immense strain and pressure. The field seemed to drain his energy, and it was a struggle to stay conscious, let alone to continue to project the fire illusion. After several minutes of trying to move to escape from the strange human, the Pokemon collapsed, and his fire illusion vanished.

"Wonderful, now that he's dealt with we can finish saving our belongings ..and get you to a hospital," Magnus weakly suggested to his son.

"You are mistaken to think that I need a hospital father, though I am not sure if the same can be said of you in a few minutes," Gaius playfully retorted.

"Son, something is obviously wrong..this...what you can do..this isn't natural..this has to be some virus or disease or something..you need help," Magnus pleaded hoping for a rational response from his son.

"Not natural? You couldn't be any further from the truth. If you only knew what was truly going on, but, I do not think you are ever going to find out," Gaius laughed playfully. "Before I deal with you though, I have to take care of something first." Gaius reached into his pocket, and pulled out the black Pokeball he had bought a month earlier.

"Pokemon?" His father asked, obviously confused by this development as well  
"Since when do you have a Pokemon?

Gaius threw the ball at the collapsed Pokemon, and after three seconds it made a low beeping noise. "Since now," Gaius replied, "and now to deal with you, father," Gaius slowly paused, examining the situation, "what ever are we doing to do, huh?" He asked, not actually expecting a reply. "You, who tried to force me to become a carbon copy of yourself instead of letting me fulfill my own dreams, you, who sent me off to a boarding school because you could not be bothered to be a real father, as counting your money was more important..well," Gaius paused again, and a smirk crept across his face "well you're just going to have to die I guess. No way you can live after seeing me like this. You'll go blabbing to all your party friends on your phone the second I leave the room, and I just can't allow that to happen."

"Son, no one has to know about..about your special gift," Magnus begged, "please, whatever you do, don't do something that you'll regret for the rest of your life, this can be our little secret."

"Sorry father, but watching you spill your secrets after being plied with drink makes me doubt you could keep such a bargain. Besides, even if I did want to accept such an offer..ending you is much more fun, and certainly no less than you deserve!" Gaius raised his hand, and an identical black aura engulfed his father Magnus, causing the man to twitch violently and grip at his chest. "They'll just this is a heart attack, caused by your immense fear of the fire that Gengar caused. The authorities will never suspect this!" Gaius laughed, reveling in his father's pain.  
"Gaius, please, don't do this. This isn't you!" Magnus pleaded, feeling his heart racing and burning from the inside-out. "I sent you away, and that was wrong. I was just worried, and scared, after everything that happened..about what happened to Marianne.." His voice trailed off, not wanting to remember his wife's tragic death. "What I did wasn't right, I know that..we can fix things, and be a proper family again, just..please stop." Magnus looked into his son's eyes, hoping to see a glimmer of light, of the son that he once knew. However, he saw only pure blackness.

"Too late to fix things now father." Gaius playfully waved his finger in disapproval. "You can't expect one fake heart to heart speech to erase everything you've done. The time to make you pay for your pathetic waste of a life is now!" Gaius clenched his fist tight and Magnus, still twitching in pain, began to move less and less, until he finally lay still on the floor. Gaius's eyes cleared and returned to their normal blue-grey coloring, and then he collapsed onto the floor.

When Gaius awoke, he was in a bright blue room, with white walls, peach colored ceiling and plain white tile. There was a window to the right, and Gaius could see the town of Pendragon, distinguished only by its unique weather pattern. He tried at first to get up, but found the task too difficult, as the room started to spin the moment he moved his head. He tried to move his hands, but numerous ivs medical leads hindered his movement. He could feel that he also had several cords linked to monitors on his chest, and even some on his forhead. "Hello?" He weakly questioned. As he spoke, he could feel immense throat pain, almost as if someone had ripped it out and then put it back intact. Gaius closed his eyes and laid his head back to rest. Memories of the fire swirled around in Gaius's head, however he could not remember how he made it out, or what caused it. The last thing he could remember, he walked into his father's room and...whatever happened after that was a blank. "I must have collapsed and his father brought him to the hospital to make sure he was ok..yeah," he paused, trying to think in order to make sense of the situation, "that's the only thing that makes sense." Gaius could weakly hear a pair of feet walking towards him, causing him to open his eyes and look at the visitor, an older man dressed in a white lab coat and beige pants. The man had pure white hair, which was parted down the middle and slightly forward, as if trying to hide the start of a receding hair line. He had deep wrinkles in his face and around his slightly slanted brown eyes, and thick black glasses hung on a strap around his neck.

"Hi, I'm Doctor Woo" the old man spoke softly "it seems like you were involved in a disturbance. Can you tell me your name?"

"Who?" Gaius asked, confused by the man. After a few moments he collected himself and responded. "My name is Gaius, Gaius vi Britannia," Gaius replied weakly, still feeling pain in his throat. "Where is my father? Is he all right?"

"Well, first we need to figure out what happened, Gaius. The paramedics found you on the floor of your home. One of the house workers called after the fire department after reportedly seeing the house on fire. When the local Blastoise patrol got there, however, there was no fire and the building seemed in perfect shape. The paramedics found this on you," the doctor reached into pocket and pulled out Gaius's black Pokeball. "We sent this to the Pokemon Center for analysis, and there seems to be a Gengar inside. Do you own a Gengar, Gaius?"  
"No, I don't, at least, I don't remember catching it" Gaius slowly replied, trying to put the pieces together. "I must have found out a wild Gengar was making a fire illusion, and somehow I was able to capture it, or, maybe my father somehow captured it in my Pokeball and gave it to me. Even though I know he has never had any Pokemon of his own, but that could still be a possibility. What does my father say happened? Surely you have already talked to him."

"Well, Gaius, I have some bad news, but stay calm now, ok?" The doctor gently pat Gaius's leg, trying to calm him and console him for the horrific news that he was about to tell the young man. "Your father is dead. He seemingly had a massive heart attack, probably brought on by the stress and anxiety of what that Gengar did to your home. Now, we checked the capture time-stamp, so we know it was unowned when it used its illusion powers. If you can't remember catching it, then perhaps your father did for you, but that strain proved too much for him.." the doctor's voice trailed off, unsure of what to say next. "There's someone who wants to see you, he says it's an important matter about your home and your family estate." The doctor slowly turned and walked away from Gaius's bedside, and motioned for another individual to enter the room.

Gaius lay there in the hospital bed, mouth gaping open as he quickly tried to process all of this information. "How...how could he be dead?" Gaius thought, "He was perfectly fine when I last saw him. This seems..too impossible to be real. How could something scare him so much that he died of fright?" Gaius closed his eyes and bowed his head down, still trying to process the series of events that had just been presented to him. He then heard a second set of footsteps enter the room.

The new visitor slowly entered the room. The man looked to be in his sixties, wearing an official-looking suit and tie under a brown trench coat, his outfit completed with a matching brown hat on his head. "I'm Mr. Grimsly, do you remember me Gaius? It's been a few years since we saw each other, if memory serves."

Gaius thought for a moment, knowing deep down that the name sounded familiar. After a second or two of pondering, it came to him. Mr. Grimsly was his father's personal attorney as well as his financial adviser. His suggestions were what enabled his father to invest money in various stocks to maintain the family's great wealth. "Yes, Mr. Grimsly, I remember you. You worked with my father on matters of business and finance."

"Yes, that's right Gaius" Grimsly replied "under normal circumstances, I would wait until you were fully recovered to meet with you, however, your family's extensive property and finances need an immediate consultation with their new owner, you."

"Me?" Gaius replied, at first unsure at the prospect of owning the family estate. "Surely there is someone else that father named in his will?" The more Gaius contemplated owning the family home and running the family assets, the more he felt disgusted. He had always tried to distance himself from his family's wealth and position, but now it seemed as if it was all forcibly thrust upon him, and that there was no way he could pass it off.

"No, no" Grimsly replied, "you are the sole heir to the Britannia legacy. Your Uncle passed away several years ago in Unova, not that your father and he kept in contact much after your mother passed. The burden falls to you Gaius to run the family household, and I will be here at your side, that is, if you desire me to be, to help you with this transition and to carry out your will, whatever you see fit.

"Whatever I see fit, really?" Gaius thought, slowly forming a plan on what he wanted to do with his family's estate. "Sell everything in the home apart from the furniture and any items in my bedroom or items that belong to me. Donate the proceeds to Pokepals, the charity that brings friendly Pokemon to sick children in hospitals so that they can play and enjoy what good time they have left."  
"But, really, are you sure?" The old man replied nervously. "It took years for your father to assemble that collection of artwork, sculpture, tapestries woven from the finest Caterpie silk known to man, and some of the works date back even to your grandfather Charles's time. Are you sure you want to just sell it on the open market?"

"Yes, I am sure," Gaius coldly replied, "Those trinkets and monuments to vanity are of the past, and it is my desire to carve a new path, to the future. Instruct all maids, gardeners and other manor staff that they may continue to receive pay, but that they need only clean on a weekly basis. The manor will also be unoccupied for a length of time, so please install security cameras immediately in case any employees get the wrong idea about an empty house."

"Unoccupied..but..where will you live?" Grimly stammered, "surely you can't expect the family business to run on its own, that would be madness."

"I plan on starting out on a Pokemon journey as soon as I am fully recovered and released from the hospital. I am sure the board members that father trusted can run the company in my absence. I will give you permission to speak on my behalf, and as soon as the lump sum of the family fortune and investment portfolio is moved into my name, you will be able to invest the remainder as you see fit on behalf of myself and the Britannia estate."

"A..a Pokemon journey?" Grimsly replied, flabbergasted, "are you sure that is how you want to spend your time, after all your father has done for you and this town, after all his father before him has done?"

"Yes," Gaius replied, "my mind is made up. Any attempt to change it or sway me from my goal will only result in the termination of my family's business contract with you and your firm. Do I make myself clear Grimsly?"

"Yes, yes of course...sir" Grimsly cautiously added the last word, now finally recognizing Gaius's authority over his most lucrative business venture. "Is there anything you need me to do while you recover?"

"Just bring me a list of what the local Pokemart sells, and of course any relevant legal documents I need to sign in the wake of this...situation." Gaius laid down and closed his eyes as Grimsly left the room. Over the next week, he slowly regained his strength and completed a stack of legal forms two feet high, signing the majority of the family assets to charities, while only keeping a large, yet small by comparison, sum for himself.

When Gaius was released from the hospital, he first ventured over to the local Pokemart, so he could pick up several new additions to his team. "I only have Gengar right now," Gaius thought, "If I want to start strong I'll need some serious firepower. Thankfully this shop sells Pokemon as well as healing items and Pokeballs. If I remember correctly, they even have some rare and top of the line Pokemon. Thankfully, for me, money is not an issue."

As Gaius strolled into the store, he looked first at the left wall. Various healing potions were displayed, then several forms of Pokeballs and other various items that trainers may need on their journey. His eyes quickly shifted to the right side, where individual Pokemon were available for purchase inside their Pokeballs.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" A young man asked as he rose from the floor behind the counter. "Sorry about hiding, I was just checking on our Super Potion supply," the man chuckled and awaited a response.

"Yes, I understand you sell Pokemon here. Is there any you recommend for a newer trainer starting out on a journey? I have some money, but as of yet haven't really caught a Pokemon of my own."

"Well," the clerk replied, pointing to the left side of the right wall. "We have Pidgey, Rattata, Bellsprout, Oddish, Jigglypuff, Caterpie, and both forms of Nidoran in our new trainer section here." The clerk then pointed to the middle section of the wall. "We also have Machop, Sandshrew, Spearow, Mankey and Growlithe in our intermediate trainer section here." The clerk finally motioned to the far right side of the wall. "Of course, this is our advanced trainer section, but since you're new I'd recommend only choosing from the first two groups."

Gaius looked at the wall, slowly analyzing his choices. "While all of those basic Pokemon seem great and all, I'd like more of a challenge. I already have a Gengar, so perhaps something on that level? What's the best that you have for sale?" Gaius's eyes became transfixed on the advanced section, waiting for the clerk to answer.

"Wow, really?" Then I guess you're not that new then, even if you only have one Pokemon. The best we sell here are Tyranitar and Dragonite, although they are probably out of your price range. They're more expensive than almost the entire store combined."

"Oh really, how much are they?" Gaius inquired, "I've seen Dragonite battle in some online videos and it seemed to be an excellent Pokemon. Would you agree that they are both powerful Pokemon?" Gaius's memory flashed back to the championship battle he had witnessed several years prior, how the champion's Dragonite displayed such raw power in the battle, and knew it was a Pokemon worthy of his collection.

"Of course they are," the store clerk enthusiastically replied, "but I'm pretty sure they are out of your price range. They're 100,000 dollars each. No offense, but I doubt someone in their late teens like you has that much money. Besides, we only accept cash, and I doubt anyone would have that much on them out of the blue, those two are mostly just for display as very few people have that much money to spend."

Gaius could feel anger slowly building inside his body and slowly pulled out his checkbook and began writing. "My name is Gaius Vi Britannia. If you know anything at all about this town, then you know that this check is good." Gaius reached into his pocket and showed the clerk his Kanto region ID with his name and address listed, as well as a recent picture. "If you choose not to sell me those two Pokemon, I'll be forced to go to some other Pokemart and give them all of this money for whatever they have. Do you really want to explain to your boss that you let $200,000 walk out the door over a measly store rule?"

"N...no..of course not," the clerk sheepishly replied. "I'm sorry for the confusion Mr. Britannia, of course we will accept your check here, not a problem." The clerk hastily collected Gaius's check and got a ladder from the back to climb to the top row to retrieve the purchased Pokemon. He then set the two Pokeballs on the counter and put the ladder away, this time returning with an additional Pokeball. "I just had a quick call with the owner, and he would personally like to offer you this Beldum as a sincere apology for my foolishness, in the hope that you will continue to visit our store when in town. Beldum may not look like much now, but he'll grow into a strong Metagross after some training."

"Thank you for your cooperation, and for the free Beldum," Gaius replied slyly. "You can tell the owner that I will gladly patronage your store, despite the bumbling of one of its employees." Gaius paused, letting out a chuckle. "I think I just saved your job, you should be happy about that. Next time, remember who your customers are and treat them with respect." Gaius quickly collected his three new Pokeballs, affixed them to his belt and left the store.

"Hey wait!" The clerk called out.

Gaius turned, he was not no more than ten feet from the door when the clerk came out after him. "Yes, is there something else? Did I forget to sign the check or something?" Gaius asked puzzled by the clerk's action.

"No, nothing like that." The clerk replied. "The check's fine, but I do have a little bit of advice. Although you have several Pokemon, you don't have a Pokedex or an official starter Pokemon from the Kanto region professor, Professor Oak of Pallet Town. I'm not sure if he'll give you a Pokemon, since you already have four, but you could at least ask for a Pokedex to keep track of who you have caught and which Pokemon you see in the wild.

"Thank you," Gaius replied smiling. "That's the most useful thing you've probably said all day." Gaius sneered and walked away, leaving the clerk in the street to tend to the shop. The new trainer was eager to get underway to Pallet Town and quickly walked onto the main road out of town. After walking for a few miles, Gaius found a large green field with a gigantic tree in the center. He then decided that the tree was a peaceful place to take a long nap.

Gaius awoke shivering and with a cold sweat and took in his surroundings. He was lying under a large oak tree, most likely a century old, with branches and leaves sticking out this way and that, almost as if its job was to try and blot out the field from the sun.

There was a cool breeze in the air and he could see the wind part the tall grass of the field with each gust. "It was just a dream," Gaius reassured himself aloud, "I'm ok, exactly where I laid down at, it's a regular August day..." The dream had haunted the young man at least once a week since he set out on his journey, approximately one month ago. Gaius stood up and thought about how much had happened over the past four weeks, from his father's death, to his own recovery and starting on a Pokemon journey.

"Yeah..it's surprising to think all of that happened in just four weeks, huh," Gaius mused aloud. He looked down at his four Pokeballs affixed to his belt, decided that his rest was over, and that it was now time to catch some new Pokemon. He stood up and started down the path to Pallet Town, knowing he probably only had a few days or less left on his trip. Gaius reached down on his belt, pulled two Pokemon loose and opened them. "Gengar, come out and go up ahead in stealth mode and report back if you see any rare or powerful Pokemon. Beldum, stay with me buddy. You're pretty new to battling, so just stick close, I'll see if I can find a Pokemon for you to battle, alright?" Both Gengar and Beldum appeared from their Pokeballs in front of their trainer.

"Gengar!" The ghost Pokemon smiled a toothy grin and lept forward, turning invisible after a few steps.

"Beldum Beldum" The steel Pokemon replied. It hovered at eye level a few feet to Gaius's right side, keeping pace as his trainer walked down the path.

After twenty minutes or so, Gengar reappeared in front of Gaius. "Gengar..Geng," the Pokemon pointed his arm forward towards the left side of the road.

"What, you found a nice Pokemon over there Gengar? Let's go after it and capture it!" Gaius exclaimed. He quickly ran about fifty feet down off the road into an open field. He could see tall, green, grassland dotted with small bushes and various flowers .

Gengar motioned for Gaius to keep walking, and then put his fingers to his mouth in almost a "shush" motion.

Gaius knelt behind a bush, and he saw a small, yet obese Pokemon. It had a blue body, a yellow patch on its stomach, yellow mouth, and points all over the bottom of its body and two points on top of its head. Gaius immediately recognized the Pokemon as one of the ones he had watched years ago, owned by the girl who challenged the Pokemon champion. "That's a Munchlax, lets see whats going on Gengar," he whispered to his Pokemon. The Pokemon was in front of a young male trainer, who was a few years younger than Gaius, was wearing a blue shirt, baseball cap, and tan cargo shorts. A backpack was also slung over the boy's shoulders. The boy held a Pokeball in his hand and seemed to be commanding the Munchlax.

"Go Munchlax, use Ice Punch!" The young trainer yelled, commanding his Pokemon to attack. "I know we can beat Brandon this time, so give it your all!"

Gaius looked to the right of the boy and his Munchlax, and saw another young boy, and another Pokemon. The second boy had a tan complexion, and was wearing a red shirt with long black pants. The new Pokemon was a large bird-like biped, with clawed hands, orange feet, a red body, and seemingly white hair on top of its head. The Pokemon also had two points that protruded from its forehead, and had two yellow eyes on its face, below the points.

Gaius wasn't exactly sure what type of Pokemon this was, which was quite a surprise, as he had studied all of the Pokemon that can be found in the Kanto region. Perhaps this Pokemon was newly discovered, or perhaps its trainer was from another region and had brought this foreign Pokemon with him. Gaius slowly inched forward, trying to get a closer look. "I think this is a Pokemon battle, let's see what these Pokemon can do." Gaius told his Pokemon.

"Come' on, Blaziken, we've beaten Joey at least ten times before, I doubt this time will be any different." The second trainer, whose name apparently was Brandon, yelled to his Pokemon. "Blaziken, use Sky Uppercut. Launch it into the air and then follow it up with a devastating flamethrower attack!"

The bird-like Pokemon responded to his master's command. It quickly raced, almost too fast to be seen to the human eye, towards his small opponent. Blaziken leaned down and swiftly punched Munchlax in the gut, lifting it up several dozen feet in the air, causing the small Pokemon to flip end over end as it began to fall back towards the ground.

"Munchlax, don't let that attack rattle you, use Solar Beam on Blaziken before you hit the ground!" Joey yelled to his Pokemon, hoping it could carry out the attack before it was once again vulnerable to his opponent's Blaziken.

Munchlax stabilized his body about twenty feet from the ground, and a bright green beam shot from its mouth, aiming towards the fire Pokemon.

"Use your flamethrower now, Blaziken! Don't let that Solar Beam touch you!" Brandon shouted to his Pokemon.

Fire spurted out from the bird-like Pokemon's mouth, colliding with the Solar Beam attack in mid-air. A large explosion of smoke and dust resulted from the collision of the attacks, and neither Gaius, nor the Pokemons' trainers, could tell what had happened.

As the smoke cleared, Gaius could see Blaziken, slightly injured and breathing heavy, bending over trying to catch its breath. The Munchlax, however, was face down on the ground, and appeared to be knocked out.

"Munchlax, get up, you can do it!" Joey yelled to his Pokemon. "We need to beat Brandon at least once!"

"Sorry Joey, but that's never going to happen." Brandon chuckled, and grabbed a Pokeball from his belt, ready to recall his Pokemon. "I don't think your Munchlax has one hit point left, you better recall it now before I actually have to hurt it beyond repair."

Joey sighed, and reached into his backpack, retrieving a small, yellow diamond-shaped object. "Munchlax, I'm going to make you all better, ok?" He then opened his Pokemon's mouth, and tossed the object inside. "I would have been able to beat you Brandon, if only I hadn't sent my prized Ratata to my cousin in Johto. He was in the top percentage of Ratata, and was the best Pokemon I ever had."  
Within a few moments of eating the diamond-shaped item, Munchlax rose from the ground and smiled at its trainer. "Munchlax..Mun," the Pokemon said enthusiastically.

"Munchlax, return. I'm sure we'll get Brandon next time." The first trainer reached into his pocket, and pulled out a Pokeball. He pushed a button and the ball opened up, shooting out a red light that engulfed the blue Pokemon. The Pokemon then vanished and was sucked inside the ball.

With the battle now over, Gaius felt like it was the right time to reveal himself. He rose from behind the bush and approached the trainers. "Wow, that was a nice battle, and you have nice Pokemon, although I'm not sure I would have used Solar Beam on a fire type Pokemon, but that's just me."

"Who are you?" The pair of trainers asked Gaius simultaneously

"The name's Gaius, I come from the town of Pendragon, it's a bit north of here, though you probably have never heard of it. It doesn't get many visitors, except scientists."

"Oh, ok. Hi, Gaius. My name's Joey," The pale trainer replied, now looking down at the ground, as if he were ashamed of his actions in the battle.

"I'm Brandon," the tan boy said enthusiastically. "Did you see my Blaziken kick Joey's butt in the battle? That's not really much of a surprise though, I always beat him and his silly Munchlax."

"Well.." Gaius thought for a moment, unsure of what to say. "Your Blaziken was nice, yes, but I'm sure my Pokemon could beat it without much trouble." Gaius laughed, waiting for a reaction. "The same could be said of your Munchlax, Joey. It is a powerful Pokemon, but with your poor choice in moves, I doubt it will ever be able to live up to its true potential. It should have an expert trainer that can help it be strong, not some pathetic rattata-loving weaking like yourself." Both young trainers looked hurt and angry over Gaius's words, but Gaius preferred to always speak the truth, instead of masking honestly behind tact and lies.

"Now, you," Joey shouted at Gaius, "I bet I can take you on right now and wipe the floor with you and whatever Pokemon you have. You have no right to talk to anyone like that, you mean guy!"

"Yeah," Brandon replied, "I bet Joey and I can beat you in a two on two battle. Two of your Pokemon versus one each of ours. Whoever wins has to admitt that the other is a better trainer!"

Gaius mused the challenge for a moment, and then smiled gleefully. "I accept your challenge, the two of you versus me. However, I'll only need one Pokemon for this battle. If you can knock him out then I'll apologize to you both, agreed?"

The two young trainers looked at each other then nodded."I'll be sending my Munchlax, it should be all better with the revive I gave it earlier." Joey reached back into his pocket and pulled out a Pokeball.

"I'll use my Blaziken, but I'm going to give it a Super Potion first to heal it up." Brandon reached on his belt and pulled off a small red and yellow spray bottle. He then slowly sprayed it all over Blaziken, until the battle wounds disappeared.

"A fighting/fire type, and whatever Munchlax is, right?" Gaius thought aloud. "Then I know just who to use..come forth, Gengar!"

Gaius's Gengar emerged from the bushes in which he had been hiding, and stood in front of his trainer. The ghost Pokemon quickly floated in zig-zag patterns around Blaziken and Munchlax, waiting their move or his trainer's command.

Gaius contemplated his situation, and then spoke. "Since I'm at a disadvantage, I'll make the first move. Gengar, use Shadow Ball on Blaziken!"

The ghost Pokemon weaved back and forth above the ground, circling the fire Pokemon. A black and purple ball started to grow between Gengar's hands until a large ball had formed. The Pokemon then quickly hurled the ball at Blaziken, striking it in the chest, causing the fire Pokemon to be knocked backwards.  
"Go Blaziken, use Sky Uppercut on Gengar!" Brandon commanded.

The fire Pokemon ran in close to Gengar, and delivered a fierce punch of his fist to the ghost Pokemon. However, instead of the punch connecting, Blaziken's fist phased through the ghost Pokemon and left Gengar unscathed.

"Oh no! I forgot that Fighting type attacks don't work on Ghost Pokemon!" Brandon exclaimed. "Blaziken try a flamethrower attack, see if you can burn him up!"  
"You're deluded if you think of yourself as a skilled trainer, Brandon. If you cannot even remember basic type effectiveness, you should go back to Pokemon training kindergarten!"Gaius sneered, taunting the young trainer. "Go Gengar, use Psychic on Blaziken!"

Joey, who had remained silent up to this point in the battle, finally decided to act. "Munchlax, use Rollout on that Gengar. That attack should still work, even though it's a ghost type," The young trainer commanded his Pokemon, as he watched the Gengar and Blaziken exchange blows.

Munchlax curled itself into a ball and started to spin rapidly on the ground, readying itself for a Rollout attack. After a few seconds of charging its attack, the Pokemon launched itself into the air, aimed directly at Gengar.

While Munchlax was flying in the air, Gengar's eyes glowed a bright blue, and Blaziken's body became outlined in a similar blue color. Gengar then lifted Blaziken off the ground and started to slam it repeatedly into the ground.

With Gengar distracted with Blaziken, Munchlax's attack was able to hit Gengar on the side of its body, causing the ghost Pokemon to lose its focus with the Psychic attack and Blaziken fell, damaged yet still conscious, to the ground.

Blaziken slowly stood up, and its body began to glow bright red.

"I think that's Blaziken's Blaze ability," Brandon yelled, overjoyed, "now all of his fire attacks do more damage! Blaziken keep going with Flamethrower!"

The blaze Pokemon began to gather fire in its mouth, which it then shot out in a bright red-orange stream towards Gengar. The attack hit Gengar directly on its face, damaging it greatly. After impact a small ring of fire encircled Gengar, which seemed to deal repeated amounts of damage every few seconds even after the Flamethrower subsided.

Gaius started to breathe faster as he watched his Pokemon endure two hits in a row, unsure of how he could successfully fend off two Pokemon at once with only one of his own. He could feel anger building inside him, as well as a strong fighting spirit that desired only to win. Suddenly, Gaius's eyes turned completely black, and a purple-black aura slowly surrounded him.

"Hey, Gaius, are you ok?" Joey asked, unsure of what had happened to his opponent. "If you're sick or something we can call off the battle, it's ok. I'll even forgive you for being mean to me earlier."

"Yeah, if something's wrong we can just stop battling, I don't mind either." Brandon chimed in, agreeing with his usual rival. "I wouldn't want to put you through a loss if you aren't feeling one-hundred percent."

"A loss?" Gaius asked, his voice dropping several octaves from his normal tone, becoming dark and ominous. "What makes you worthless fools think I'd ever lose to you. The both of you are no more than ants beneath my feet, and now it's time to grab the magnifying glass!" Gaius shrieked, with a mix of insanity and sheer joy. "Gengar, it's time to end this permanently. Use Psychic on both Blaziken and Munchlax. Slam them into each other until they are both unconscious. Use your Psychic attack to keep the trainers' mouths shut, as well, so they cannot issue commands."

Gengar turned around, looking at his trainer before performing the attack. He knew that using Pokemon attacks against humans was frowned upon, and was surprised to see this purple aura around his master again, the same kind he first witnessed when Gaius killed his father a few weeks prior. "What is this odd power master Gaius has," Gengar wondered to himself, "how can a normal human possess such extraordinary abilities?" The Pokemon waited, unsure of if he should follow his trainer's command.

"Gengar, follow my orders!" Gaius yelled, scolding the Ghost Pokemon. "Carry out my will or you shall once again feel immense pain and suffering by my hand. This is your only warning, from now until the end of time. Obey, or die, the choice is yours. I suggest you make it quick, I don't wanna wait around much longer."

Gengar began to panic, as memories of the day of its captured continued to flow back into his mind. Gaius had severely hurt the ghost Pokemon on that day, more than any normal Pokemon attack ever could. Gengar had never been in so much pain its whole life, and had no wish to relive such a painful sensation. Gengar closed his eyes, and followed his master's orders.

Blue lines appeared first around Blaziken and Munchlax, and then around their trainers as well. Both opposing Pokemon were lifted off of the ground, and Gengar used his Psychic attack to cause them to collide repeatidly in the air. The attack continued for several minutes, while the Pokemon were repeatidly slammed into each other, until they both were near fainting.

During the attack, both Joey and Brandon were rendered helpless by Gengar's Psychic attack. Neither of them could speak, as they could not part their lips at all or allow any words to escape their mouths. Both trainers were too stunned to even move or look away. "How could someone do this?" They thought, "is this even possible, is this even allowed for Pokemon to act like this?"

"Good, Gengar," Gaius said, praising his Pokemon's decision to comply with his orders, "I'm glad you came to your senses. I wouldn't want to have to replace you with someone else, although I will do so if it ever becomes nessecary." Gaius then turned his attention towards the two trainers. "How does it feel to be helpless, to be unable to aid your Pokemon as you watch them get attacked over and over again? It must hurt, right? Well, fortunately for you, you won't have to live with it much longer. Or," Gaius paused, thinking of how to phrase his next sentence, "should I say, you won't have to live with anything much longer." Gaius stopped speaking for a moment, so he could witness the horror that grew in Joey and Brandon's eyes. "After you're gone, I'm going to take your Pokemon and their Pokeballs. They should not be doomed to failure at the hands of weak and pathetic trainers such as yourselves that will only hold them back and stunt their growth. I will make sure they are raised into powerful Pokemon, stronger than your wildest dreams. Gengar," he turned to his Pokemon, issuing a command, "I think Munchlax and Blaziken have had enough, release them. We don't want to kill them, we're going to acquire them, instead."

Gengar released his Psychic attack on the two Pokemon, both of which immediately fell to the ground, barely conscious. Gengar kept his lock on the two opposing trainers, however, as he knew Gaius did not order him to release them, only their Pokemon. Gengar began to worry if this was how his master was going to handle all off their Pokemon battles together. "Will Gaius always just use his strange abilities if he's starting to lose? Gengar thought, "I wish I knew what was happening, and if there was any way to help him."

"Now, to finish off the two of you," Gaius cackled, musing at his options on how to kill the two trainers, "I could either have my Pokemon kill you with their attacks, I could snap your necks, or I could just destroy your bodies all at once, which would leave no evidence. Hmm," Gaius paused, as if he was trying to decide what he should eat for an everyday meal, "what am I in the mood for, this time? Last time I just faked a heart attack in my father, but this time I'm feeling a bit more...creative. I'm going to break every bone in each of your bodies, then I'm going to get rid of the evidence. Oooh, this is gonna be fun." He then adressed his Pokemon. "Gengar, keep your hold on them, I don't want their screams to draw any more playmates..er, people." Gaius laughed as the last word exited his mouth.  
Gaius waved his hand, and dark auras appeared around both Joey and Brandon. Slowly, with each motion of his hand, Gaius could see another bone in each trainer's body break and twist inside them. He relished seeing his victims in pain, and wanted to extend this sensation as long as possible. Within a few minutes, the trainers' bodies looked grotesque and unrecognizeable as human beings, with bones poking out where arms or ribs would normally be. "I think I've had enough fun for now, time to wrap it up."

When Gaius waved his hand once more, what once was the trainers' necks snapped, ending their lives. Gaius then closed his eyes and clenched his fist, causing both of his victims' bodies to seemingly vanish into the ground. After a few moments, Gaius's eyes returned to their normal blue-grey color, and he looked at the two Pokeballs on the ground.

"Hmm, I wonder what happened," Gaius could not remember how the battle had ended, but saw neither trainers in the area. "I guess I beat them and they took off, ashamed of the loss." He paused, trying to make sense of the situation. "I guess they wanted to release their Pokemon because they lost. Well, if that's how they feel about it, their loss can be my gain." He picked up both Pokeballs and started to recall Blaziken and Munchlax. However, when he looked towards the Pokemon, he saw Munchlax resting to regain his energy. Gaius recalled Blaziken into its Pokeball, but, when he turned to recall Munchlax, the Pokemon had woken from its rest and was nowhere to be seen.

"Great, where did my new Munchlax go?" Gaius thought aloud. He then quickly looked around and saw a small hole in the ground. "Hm, it must have used Dig to travel in the ground. Beldum, come out and dive into the hole, follow it until you find Munchlax. I'll follow from above on Dragonite." Gaius quickly recalled Gengar and threw Dragonite's Pokeball, and the large dragon Pokemon appeared. "I need to ride you so I can get a Munchlax back. Fly low and follow Beldum who's underground." Gaius jumped on Dragonite's back, held on tight, and commanded the Pokemon to take off.

After twenty minutes of following Beldum, Gaius came to a small wooded area with apple trees and various other fruits. He could see Munchlax trying to climb a tree to reach food at the top. "I guess he's hungry," Gaius thought, "I guess we may have to battle him to get him to come back into his Pokeball. I really wish we didn't have to, but, it may be the only way for us to recall him. Beldum, return to your Pokeball. Dragonite, you come back as well." Gaius was unsure which Pokemon would be best suited for this matchup, so he decided to hide and wait to see what Munchlax did.

The Pokemon tried to use its clawed hands and feet to pull himself up the branches, but kept falling down after a few seconds on the bark. After several unsuccessful attempts to climb the trees, the Pokemon began to ram his head into the tree trunks, in an effort to try and shake the fruit loose from the trees so that they fall within reach on the ground. After a few attempts at ramming into the trees, several fruit fell in front of the fat Pokemon, who then immediately started to consume them whole.

Gaius slowly approached the Pokemon, waiting for the right moment to strike. He knew he had to knock out the Pokemon quickly, before it could escape, although judging by the size of that Pokemon he could not get very far if he wanted to, even though he had managed to escape earlier, Gaius had the element of surprise on his side. Gaius readied Dragonite's Pokeball and threw it. "Go, Dragonite, use Dragon Tail!"

The dragon Pokemon quickly emerged from its Pokeball and swung its large tail towards the obese Pokemon. The attack hit the creature, but it quickly recovered.  
"Munchlax! Mun!" The Pokemon yelled, and then curled its body into a ball. He then started to spin his body, accelerating faster and faster, before finally launching himself at the dragon Pokemon.

"Dragonite, dodge and counter with Aqua Tail," Gaius shouted. "It may be a rock type, since it seems to be using Rollout!"

The dragon Pokemon tried to fly out of the way of the oncoming attack, but Munchlax hit him in the middle of his chest. Dragonite winced in pain, but then swooped down once his opponent had landed and swung its tail, now covered in water, at the other Pokemon.

Munchlax appeared hurt, but started to wave his fingers back and forth. "Mun, Mun..lax, lax," he slowly spoke. Suddenly, a large beam of ice shot out from its mouth, heading right towards Dragonite.

Gaius paused for a second, lost in thought. "It seemed to be a rock type, but, now it can use Ice moves too. I've never heard of a Pokemon like that! It could be possible the hand gesture was some sort of ability that allowed him to use an ice attack, but think, what attack lets you use other attacks?" He quickly ran through the options in his head. "It's not mimic, and that wouldn't make sense since my Dragonite doesn't even know Ice beam. There's only one other move I can think of." Gaius calmed himself and readied his command.

"Dragonite, that Pokemon is using Metronome to access Ice Beam! Dodge now or you could be down for the count!" Gaius yelled to his flying Pokemon."Get out of the way and finish it off with Hyper Beam!"

Dragonite nodded, and dipped down to try and avoid the Ice Beam attack. He flew low, but not low enough. The beam struck the edge of Dragonite's left wing, rendering it completely encased in ice. Dragonite started panting, feeling immense pain from even the glancing blow of the Ice Beam. He landed on the ground, now unable to fly or even dodge, but still wiling to try and fight. Orbs of energy started to grow in Dragonite's mouth, as it prepared to unleash one of its most powerful attacks.

The obese Pokemon stood there, unsure of how to react or where to run, or if running was even a possibility from such an immense attack. He slowly turned around and tried to flee, but with his short legs and large body, he made it only mere feet before Dragonite attacked.

"Dragooo!" The dragon Pokemon shouted, as a wide yellow beam with orange streaks shot from its mouth, aimed directly at the fleeing Munchlax. The blast hit the Pokemon in the back, and continued after the obese Pokemon fell to the ground, leveling trees in its path for at least a hundred feet.

Munchlax slowly tried to rise off of the ground, but was too weak from the Hyper Beam attack to even move.

"Good job Dragonite, return!" Gaius shouted, praising his Pokemon for its success. "Now, you're mine!" Gaius reached into his belt and threw Muchlax's Pokeball. He then threw the Pokeball at the weakened Pokemon, and watched it get sucked inside. "Yes, Munchlax is now mine! I've always wanted one of these Pokemon!" Gaius smiled wide, proud of his achievement, and, even more so, proud of his Dragonite.

"Let's go guys, onto Pallet Town!" Gaius shouted gleefully. He recalled his Dragonite and secured his two new Pokeballs onto his belt. Though his new additions were not from a traditional capture, he still felt a sense at accomplishment at both his first Pokemon battle and the tracking down of Munchlax. The young trainer knew that although his first battle was a success, the road ahead would be fraught with increasing difficulty. He also knew that if he kept his faith in the strength of his Pokemon, he would never fail.


	2. Chapter 2: Perchance to Dream

Gaius looked down at his newest Pokemon and smiled, glad that the capture of Munchlax was successful. It had been several hours since Gaius had captured the big eater Pokemon, and although Gaius had planned to be in Pallet Town by now, wild Pokemon and rest breaks for his new capture had significantly slowed down his pace. "I know you don't like being in your Pokeball, Munchlax, but you didn't have to eat it." Gaius sighed, reflecting on the events of the last few hours.

After catching Munchlax, Gaius had decided to give himself and his Pokemon a nice afternoon rest for them to recover their energy. He found a nice meadow right on the border of Route 1 and released his Pokemon from their Pokeballs so they could enjoy the rest along with Munchlax.

Dragonite laid down on his stomach, still slowly recovering from the Ice Beam attack he suffered in his battle with Munchlax

"It's ok, Dragonite, as soon as we get to Pallet Town I'll have Professor Oak check you out, and I'll take you to a Pokemon Center if there is one in town." Gaius breathed deep, taking in the fresh air, and started to watch his other Pokemon mill about.

Gengar slowly floated around the field, and started to play tricks on Gaius's other Pokemon. He hid under the ground and phase up behind Beldum, Tyranitar, and Munchlax and tap them on the back. When the Pokemon turned around, he would turn invisible or phase through the floor, and then re-appear behind them again and repeat the process.

Tyranitar was not amused by Gengar's antics, and each time he felt a tap on his scales, he would try to quickly turn and Crunch the ghost Pokemon. He was too slow to catch the Pokemon, and after several pranks, he screamed at the sky "Tyraaaaan!" After being fed up with Gengar, he sauntered off and sat next to the resting Dragonite. With Tyranitar obviously not in the mood to play, Gengar started to play with Munchlax.

Munchlax seemed to enjoy Gengar's playful nature, and tried to chase after the ghost Pokemon using his short legs. Gengar enjoyed the chase, and even slowed down his movements to give Munchlax a chance, although he was still always faster than the Big Eater Pokemon. After twenty minutes or so of chase and hide-and-seek between the two, Munchlax grew tired and began to slow down and breathe heavy. The obese Pokemon suddenly fell backwards and started to sleep, regaining his energy.

With his newest playmate resting, Gengar then went over to Beldum to see if the iron ball Pokemon wanted to play. Beldum seemed at first confused by Gengar's antics and he tried to attack the ghost Pokémon. He tried to hit Gengar with Take Down, but Beldum's metallic body passed through the shadow Pokémon's body, leaving the steel Pokemon frustrated as it continued to attack Gengar to no avail.  
Gaius smiled while he witnessed his Gengar's playful nature. He leaned back, confident that he could sleep without worry. As Gaius dozed off, he slowly began to dream. Gaius found himself in a small city, dotted with small stores and homes. The town looked utterly abandoned and unkempt, as weeds were slowly poking through the concrete roads and the buildings looked dilapidated and starting to crumble, as if they had not been used in years.

Gaius started to explore the buildings, trying to find some clue as to where he could be. One of the buildings he entered seemed to be an abandoned Pokemart, which seemed oddly familiar to him. "I've been here before" Gaius thought, "I know I have...but when?" Gaius suddenly saw a shadowy figure of a young man behind the counter.

"Wait, this can't be!" Gaius exclaimed, turning away from the newly appeared figure. "This cannot be Pendragon, I left merely two weeks ago. Such degradation would have taken years!" He turned back towards the figure, about to question how such a thing could have taken place, but as he looked towards where the figure had been, he only saw empty space. "What is this?" Gaius shouted in confusion, "people cannot appear or disappear at will. This does not seem like some sort Pokémon attack either!" He sighed, trying to find a way to make sense of what he was seeing. "I need to go to the manor, perhaps there is someone is there who knows what is going on." As he left the Pokemart and headed up the road towards his manor, he could feel an ominous feeling in the pit of his stomach.

As Gaius neared the Britannia family manor, he could see that it suffered immense damage. He ran closer to the building to see if any part of the manor survived. The main entrance was severely burnt, with most of the walls and all of the interior destroyed. The ballroom was burned to the ground, reduced to cinders, and the rest of the house didn't seem to fare much better, except for a few walls partially standing. Gaius's room seemed to be partially intact, so he quickly ran there, hoping he could find some evidence of what happened to the manor, and to Pendragon itself. As he was about to reach his room, Gaius saw a figure cloaked in a black hooded robe standing in what used to be the hallway. "Who are you? Do you know what happened here?" Gaius shouted, hoping that this mysterious figure had some clue as to what could have caused such a disaster.

"Who I am is of no importance, nor is what happened here." The figure replied in a deep, gravelly voice. "What only matters is the accumulation of power. Those who lack the strength to survive are unfit to live in the new world that I have created. Somehow you must have escaped the dark purge, but no matter. I will now correct this error in judgement." The figure slowly raised his hands, outstretching them towards Gaius.

"Dark purge?" Gaius asked, confused, "what are you talking about? Are you responsible for what happened to Pendragon? Where are all of the people? What happened!" He shouted, exasperated at the figure's ambiguity. "Just tell me what is going on, who are you?"

"All who were deemed unworthy by the New God were purged, their bodies were ripped apart like dust in the wind. Those who possessed enough strength to survive were spared, as long as they swore an oath to the New God, promising that they would live the days they had left serving in his name, and bowing to his will." The figure paused, seemingly glancing up at the sky. "Ah, here comes a servant now," The figure chuckled, watching a figure move across the sky, which slowly started to come in for a landing.

Gaius could see a large object flying downward, readying to land on the ground. As the object neared, Gaius was able to make out what the object was, a very large Dragonite. It was at least twice as large as his own. The dragon Pokemon had holes in its wings and several large scars across its head and chest, as if it had been through numerous grueling and horrific battles. Gaius was shocked that a Pokemon with such injuries could stand, let alone even fly. "If that Dragonite belongs to you, you should take it to a Pokemon Center so it can recover from its injuries, they look pretty bad," he implored the figure cloaked in black. Gaius once again focused on what the figure had said. "So, are you this New God you spoke of, or is he someone you work for, or some metaphysical being that you worship? Who would ever condone such action and brutality, especially pushing Pokemon way past their limits!"

The figure sighed at the oblivious young man before him. "Haven't you been listening fool, there are no more Pokemon Centers! If people and Pokemon cannot survive on their own they have no place in this world! Those pathetic hovels of weakness were among the first things I leveled when I assumed my mantle as God. I forced all Pokemon in the world to fight to the death, and only those who were able to overcome all foes were granted the privilege of survival under my rule. I then waged war on humanity with my army of loyal Pokemon, and though few in number their power rivaled that of human armies! None could stand in my way, and soon, what was left of humanity, those whom I had graciously allowed to survive, worshiped me as their God. Enough talk petty human, your life shall now end, as I flay your flesh from your bones."

Gaius could see dark energy emanating from the figure's hand, energy that began to encompass Gaius and close in tight all around him. The energy manifested into black sand, which started to quickly swirl around Gaius in a funnel pattern. The sand began to cut into Gaius's clothing, tearing it to pieces as the sand cyclone increased in speed with each passing second. The young man could feel the sand and wind tearing into his flesh, leaving small cuts and nicks up and down his body where his clothes had already been destroyed. He tried to move forward to escape the damaging wind and sand, but he was unable to even move an inch of his body, completely being left at the mercy of the hooded man. "Wow, what a homecoming," Gaius thought, "I leave for two weeks and come home to find some mad man has killed most of the world..how could such a thing happen?" The wind and sanded ripped deeper into Gaius's body, creating huge bleeding rips and gashes deep into his skin. He could feel his skin being peeled away layer by layer, and he knew he only had a few seconds until...

Gaius awoke, dripped in sweat and clutching at his heart. "Oh god," he thought out loud, "that was too real. It was as if my body was being ripped apart, and I could feel every cut, every nick, every gash that I suffered there." Gaius quickly ran his hands across his body, making sure that he was uninjured, and that it was just a dream. After the quick examination, he seemed perfectly unharmed, except for an aching headache. "Wow, I seem to be ok, but, I have never experienced a dream that intense before, not even the other nightmare was this bad." Gaius reached down, ready to recall his pokemon to their Pokeballs.

As Gaius moved his hand toward his Pokeballs, he could only feel four of them. Perplexed, Gaius looked down to see which Pokeball was missing. "Gengar, Beldum, Dragonite, Blaziken...that much mean...Munchlax!" He recalled his four Pokémon whose Pokeballs he had, and quickly started searching for Munchlax's missing Pokeball.  
After twenty minutes of searching, Gaius pulled out his smart phone and loaded his Pokémon application, which had details about his items on hand, his Pokemons' moves, and a feature that allowed Gaius to track his Pokeballs using a chip that Gaius had installed inside each of them.

When the application loaded, it signaled that Munchlax's Pokeball was close. As the trainer started looking again, with the application active, the signal strength increased if he began to walk in the direction of the Big Eater Pokémon. When Gaius moved closer to his Munchlax, the signal increased even more, until the signal was at maximum strength when Gaius was standing directly over his Pokémon. Gaius looked under his Pokémon, and in the immediate area surrounding it, but both searches proved fruitless, leaving the Pokeball unable to be found. Gaius began to think that his application was malfunctioning, until the answer finally dawned on him.

"Munchlax," Gaius yelled, angrily shaking his Pokémon, "did you eat your Pokeball?"

"Munch," the Pokémon replied, seemingly oblivious to the question. Munchlax then opened his mouth, asking for food and allowing Gaius to take a look inside.

"Hmm," Gaius muttered as he peered inside his Pokemon's mouth, "I can't see your Pokeball in there, but it could already be in your stomach. It's a good thing that Pokeballs are tougher than they look. I think that Professor Oak in Pallet Town should be able to help me retrieve your Pokeball, and, since you don't seem to be in any pain it's not an emergency by any means. We should be in Pallet soon, so just don't eat anyone else's ball, ok?"

"Munchlax!" The Pokémon cheered as soon as Gaius finished speaking. After twenty seconds of standing still, the normal Pokémon started to wander off, most likely looking for something to eat.  
"Never mind, Munchlax." Gaius sighed, as he watched his Pokémon walk away. "It's not like you are just going to start listening to me, so I seriously don't know why I bother to try and get through to you." Gaius then thought of a way to placate his Big Eater Pokémon, even though it would be a total fabrication. "Hey Munchlax, I hear Professor Oak has tons of gourmet Pokémon food, and that he loves giving to Pokémon just like you. So, the faster we get there, the faster you can eat. Does that sound good to you?"

"Munchlax!" The Pokémon yelled, excited by the mention of unlimited food. He then ran back to Gaius, and quickly started following his master once again.

"Good Munchlax, I thought that would sound good to you. Be sure to follow me and keep up, I know you can't walk fast with a full stomach, but I'm sure you have motivation to try." Gaius started back on the path towards Pallet Town, with his Munchlax obediently following behind him.


	3. Chapter 3: A Quick Fishing Spot

**Preface: Sorry for taking so long to get these chapters up. I originally intended chapter 2 to be massive but then realized it would be too much to read, so I split it up into several sections**. **Please review/comment, thanks.**

The pair walked in the direction of Pallet Town, stopping only when Gaius noticed a small river that ran horizontally in front of him. The area around the river looked peaceful and at ease. Gaius walked closer to the river and looked down into the water. The water was a pure color of blue, allowing the trainer to see his reflection perfectly in the water. 'This area looks so peaceful,' Gaius thought. There was a small bridge for trainers to cross, but the young trainer decided that this spot would be perfect for Munchlax and him to take a rest. The trainer sat down and laid on his back, watching white, puffy clouds effortlessly float overhead. After twenty minutes of resting, Gaius remembered something that he had packed, although he had not had a chance to use it yet.

The trainer quickly stood and began to rifle through his bag. He sifted through a few sets of clothes, several empty Pokeballs, some cans of food and soda that he had stowed for his brief trip to Pallet Town, and, finally, he found what he was looking for at the bottom of his bag. Gaius reached down and pulled out a small, collapsible fishing rod. 'I bet there has to be some water type Pokemon that are in this big river, I should see what kind of Pokemon I can find.'

Gaius slowly cast the fishing rod into the water, patiently waiting for a bite as Munchlax stood next to his trainer, waiting to battle any Pokemon that happened to appear. The young man waited several minutes, while no indication of any Pokemon in the river nor a tug on his lure occurred. After five additional minutes, Gaius pulled back his rod, moved down the river, further from the bridge, and recast the line again. 'I really hope I at least find some kind of Pokemon while fishing. I know I'm not much of a fishing expert, but I don't think fishing is this hard.' As ten minutes passed by at the new fishing spot, Gaius felt a hard tug on his fishing rod.

The trainer began to wind in his line while pulling hard on the fishing rod, hoping to yank his first catch out of the water with one tug. However, whatever that was on the fishing line had a different idea. Gaius felt his line being resisted as the Pokemon that he had hooked began to thrash about underwater, causing his fishing line to jerk erratically back and forth. The trainer then slacked his pull on the fishing line for a moment, before quickly trying to pull his catch up above the water. After over a minute of fighting with the Pokemon on the other end, the novice fishermen succeeded in bringing the Pokemon to land.

The Pokemon that Gaius had reeled in had a small, round, blue body with two frail looking legs at the bottom of its circular body. In the middle of the Pokemon's stomach, there was a white circular patch, with a black swirl pattern that curved in on itself until it reached the center of its stomach. Gaius noticed a tail that extended from behind the Pokemon's body that was quite large compared to the Pokemon's body. The tail was colored several shades of blue lighter than its body and it seemed to be able to propel the Pokemon very fast in the water. On top of its body, the Pokemon had a small pair of pink lips, with a small pair of eyes located above the lips. There did not appear to be any sort of nose or ears on the Pokemon, which made Gaius wonder how such a Pokemon could receive commands from a trainer, or hear the cries of other Pokemon.

"Hm," Gaius mused as he examined the Pokemon, trying to surmise what species of Pokemon he was dealing with. "Small, blue round Pokemon, probably water type. You also have a white pattern with a black swirl. I'm pretty sure I've looked up your information before, you must be a Poliwag. Your final evolution is either Poliwrath when exposed to a Water Stone or Politoed if you're exposed to a King's Rock found in Johto. Your branched evolution path would give me a choice of which Pokemon I would want more based on the other types on my team. I'm sure you would be useful to me, as I don't have any water type Pokemon yet." The trainer smiled and prepared to issue commands to Munchlax.

"Munchlax, use Chip Away!" Gaius hoped he could end the battle quickly, so that he could move on to Pallet Town. 'I know Chip Away deals continual damage, hopefully my Munchlax will be able to wear down Poliwag's stamina until I can capture it.'

The normal type Pokemon ran towards the small water type and began to claw at the Pokemon's body with its claws. The assault continued relentlessly for thirty seconds of consistent attacks. After the attack was finished, Munchlax stepped back, waiting for his trainer's next command.

Poliwag looked damaged from the attack, but the Pokemon seemed that it was far from finished. "Wag, Poliwag," the creature yelled, while readying an attack. A stream of bubbles shot out of the water Pokemon's mouth aimed directly at Munchlax. The big eater Pokemon seemed slightly hurt from the Bubble attack, but not nearly enough for Gaius to recall his Pokemon.

"Munchlax, that Bubble attack shouldn't have damaged you too much. Counter-attack with Metronome." 'I know Metronome is unpredictable, but let's see what kind of luck I have today!' Gaius patiently waited for his Pokemon to attack.

The normal type Pokemon slowly waved his fingers back and forth. His fingers began to glow as he kept moving them, slowly chanting its own name. "Munch...lax, Munchlax," the Pokemon muttered. After twenty seconds of preparing for an attack, Munchlax's fingers stopped moving. A strong stream of water shot from the Pokemon's mouth. The stream of water was aimed directly at Poliwag's face.

The Water Gun attack struck Poliwag, causing the Pokemon to fall backwards for a moment before the Pokemon regained its composure. The attack seemed to not damage the wild Pokemon that much. "Poliwag!" The Pokemon yelled as he rushed towards Munchlax. Poliwag turned as he neared Munchlax, slapping the normal type Pokemon twice with its large tail.

Munchlax seemed slightly damaged by the attack but was still ready to continue battling. Gaius looked towards his Pokemon, hoping that the battle would end soon. "Munchlax, try to finish off Poliwag. It's time for a Tackle attack! I know that you have more powerful moves in your arsenal, but you have to remember to only severely weaken the Pokemon, but not knock it out."

The normal type Pokemon ran towards Poliwag and jumped into the air, its body aimed towards the water type Pokemon. Munchlax struck Poliwag with its body, causing the Tadpole Pokemon to be knocked back several feet. Poliwag appeared to be quite injured from the latest assault, as it began to wobble back and forth barely able to stand.

"Yes,' Gaius exclaimed, happy at seeing the wild Pokemon's weakened condition. "It's time to try and capture you. Pokeball, go!" The young trainer reached into his bag and pulled out an empty Pokeball. He then threw the ball at the weakened Poliwag and watched as the Pokemon got sucked inside. The Pokeball shook for several seconds, until a small clicking noise could be heard, signifying the Pokemon's capture. "You're mine now, Poliwag," Gaius exclaimed.

As Gaius moved forward to pick up his newly acquired Pokemon, the Pokeball suddenly shrunk back to its miniature size. The trainer picked up the Pokeball and tried to enlarge it, however the Pokeball did not respond when he pressed the button for it to enlarge. He then noticed that there was a bright red light on the button of the Pokeball, something that his other Pokeballs did not have. 'Hm, I forgot that Poliwag would be my seventh Pokemon and that trainers are only allowed to have six with them. I guess I'm unable to use Poliwag until I find somewhere to store my excess Pokemon at. Oy veh, I'll see if Professor Oak or someone in Pendragon can look after my Pokemon for me.'

"We might as well get going to Pallet Town, Munchlax. The sooner that we get there, the sooner you can get your Pokeball removed." Gaius packed up his collapsible rod and stuffed it back into his pack. The trainer picked up his backpack and hoisted it onto his back, preparing to depart the river and make his way to his next destination. The trainer began to walk across the bridge that separated the banks of the lake, until he heard an odd splashing sound behind him. Gaius turned backwards and saw another Poliwag that had jumped out of the river.

The second Tadpole Pokemon began to look around the side of the river that Gaius was fishing on, as if he was looking for something that he had lost. Seemingly not finding what it was looking for, the water type Pokemon continued to walk back and forth along the side of the river, occasionally saying its name every few steps.

Gaius quickly ran back to the side of the bridge so he could get closer to the second Poliwag. He crept close to the riverbank where the Pokemon was walking, making sure to not make a sound until he was only a few feet away from the wild Pokemon. 'If I can capture this one, as well, I'll have a pair. That will allow be to train both a Poliwrath and a Politoed, expanding my Pokemon collection even more. "Hey, Poliwag," Gaius yelled to the wild Pokemon. "What are you looking for?"

The Pokemon quickly turned and looked at Gaius. "Wag, Poli, Poliwag-wag. Poli!" The water type Pokemon looked angrily at Gaius and moved closer, almost as if the trainer had what the Pokemon was looking for. Poliwag began to look like it was getting ready for battle as it continued yelling its name at Gaius.

"Oh, I think I know what you might be looking for," Gaius slyly replied. The trainer quickly pulled out Poliwag's Pokemon and waved it in front of the wild Pokemon. "I captured another Poliwag a few minutes ago. Was that one your friend, or something? If you two were close or something, then I'm sorry, but he's mine now. Nothing you can do will free him from my Pokeball. I can't even open it myself right now, since he's my seventh Pokemon."

The wild Pokemon looked downcast, as if it was sad when it heard the news about the other Poliwag being captured. The second Poliwag began to draw closer to Gaius, wanting to see its imprisoned friend. The tadpole Pokemon began to yell its name, "Poliwag, wag, wag, Poli!" When Gaius did not move or let his friend go free, the Pokemon began to cry.

"Now, now, Poliwag. You don't have to be sad. It's true that I captured your Poliwag friend, but you two can still be friends. If I was able to, I'd at least let your friend come out so he could see you before we had to go, but I can't. Look at this, Poliwag, you'll see it's impossible for me to show you your friend." Gaius reached down towards Poliwag's Pokeball and pressed the small, red button. When nothing occurred, he showed Poliwag the Pokeball and pressed the button again. "Ya see, I can't let your friend out to say goodbye, but, I might have another arrangement that might make you happy. If you want, you could come along with me so that you and your friend can still be friends and be together. Although I'll probably only have one of you on my team at a time, whenever both of you aren't with me, you can stay and play wherever all you want. I know that you weren't really looking to become a trainer's Pokemon, but that's the only way for you guys to stay together. So, what do you say?"

The Poliwag looked down towards the ground, seemingly thinking over  
Gaius's proposition. The Pokemon then paced back and forth for several minutes as it continued to think. After more pacing and contemplation, the wild Pokemon turned back towards the trainer. Poliwag walked close to Gaius and began to nod its head, signifying that it had accepted the trainer's offer of staying with his friend.

Gaius smiled wide as he pulled out a Pokeball. "Good, I'm glad that you decided to accept my offer. I'm sure that you and your friend will be having fun in no time. We just have to get to Pallet Town, and I'll see if he can keep my Pokemon for me while I'm on my journey. It shouldn't be too long til we're there, so you can just rest peacefully in this Pokeball til then." The trainer pulled out another empty Pokeball from his bag and threw it at the wild Poliwag. The ball wiggled back and forth three times and then a clicking noise was made, indicating the Pokemon's capture. The second Poliwag's Pokeball stayed shrunken and a red dot appeared on the Pokeball's button, just as it had on the first Poliwag's. "How excellent," Gaius said joyfully, "I've gotten two Pokemon in under twenty minutes and I didn't even have to battle one of them. I should seriously congratulate myself, I had no idea that I could be that persuasive. Until I pick up another powerful water Pokemon, I'm definitely going to be keeping one on my team, so the Poliwag play-date may have to wait for a long time." Gaius smiled and turned to his Munchlax. "Come on, let's get to Pallet Town. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can find a way to remove that Pokeball in your stomach. You do want it removed, don't you?"

"Munchlax," his Pokemon yelled, seemingly agreeing with its trainer.

The pair walked towards Pallet Town, with Gaius's Pokemon collection increased by two.


	4. Chapter 4: Arriving in Pallet Town

After an hour past their capture of the two Poliwag, Gaius found himself on the outskirts of Pallet Town, where he could see various farms and ranches, each apparently with their own specialty or focus. "I'd love to be able to check these ranches out in more detail, but right now I need to get Munchlax to Professor Oak's," Gaius muttered aloud in disappointment, "I only wish this Pokémon would actually listen to me. None of my other Pokémon, some of whom are even much more powerful, have been this much trouble to deal with."

"Lax...Munch..." Munchlax looked up at its trainer, its pace beginning to slow and his head began to tilt towards the ground. Munchlax was once again tired, desiring to take a rest.

Gaius looked down at his big eater Pokemon, and sighed. "I know you don't like to walk that much, Munchlax, but since you ate your Pokeball, you don't exactly have another option here. If only you did not eat your own Pokeball, then you'd just be sitting comfortably inside your ball while I actually did all the walking. I'll let you rest for a while, but then we really have to pick up the pace. Honestly, I could use a bit of a nap myself." The trainer looked around, and found a nice patch of grass to the right of the road. 'This place looks about as good as any,' Gaius laughed. 'I guess that's one of the perks to being out in the wilderness, being able to sleep wherever you want.' Gaius slowly laid down, using his backpack as a pillow to rest his head. Munchlax then joined his trainer, laying on his backside several feet away from the human.

Gaius soon fell asleep and, thankfully for him, he was not plagued with any bad dreams. When the young trainer awoke, he could tell that several hours had passed as the sun had moved from its directly overhead position to far off to the right side of the sky. 'Wow, I wasn't really intending to sleep that much, but, I guess, with all of my bad dreams that I've been having, I'm a bit sleep deprived.' The trainer then noticed his normal type Pokemon, who was still lying on its back, fast asleep. 'Hm...what's a fast way I could get this Pokemon to wake up,' Gaius mused.

"Come'on Munchlax, time to wake up. I have food for you. The sooner you wake up and get to Pallet Town, the sooner I'll ask the famous Professor Oak to make you some Pokemon food made specifically for your Pokemon type. So, I'd get there fast, if I were you." Gaius reached into his pocket and put a small handful of Pokemon food in front of the Big Eater Pokemon.

As Gaius mentioned the word "food", Munchlax's eyes flew open. As soon as he saw the bites of food that his trainer was offering, Munchlax began to drool from his mouth, waiting, as if he were a trained dog, for Gaius to tell him it was time to eat.  
"Okay buddy, dig in." Gaius yelled, allowing the Pokemon to consume the meal.

Munchlax devoured the serving of Pokemon food within seconds, a feat which would take a normal Pokemon at least several minutes to complete. After the food had quickly vanished, Munchlax looked up at his trainer, eagerly waiting another meal. Over the few days that Gaius and Munchlax had been reunited, the trainer had tried to teach Munchlax that it did not actually need to consume as much food as it liked to, citing an online report that Munchlax suffer from a form of PWS, in that no matter how much Munchlax ate, they never felt full.

"No, no," Gaius scolded Munchlax. The Pokemon looked as if it were awaiting scraps from a dinner table. "You have enough food for a few hours. If we get to Pallet Town by dinnertime, I'll see what I can do about the special Pokemon food. So, let's get going." Gaius began walking back the way he came, back towards the path to Pallet Town. Even though his diversion for a quick nap turned into several hours, there was only a short walk left until they were clowe to Pallet Town. That was good, considering his Pokemon's appetite. Despite the small diversion, the sky was beginning to get dark. Gaius was unsure how late Professor Oak worked at night, so he decided to find some temporary lodging once he got into town. Gaius glanced at his Pokeballs and remarked, "I'll feed you guys when we get to Pallet Town. I know you all aren't as hungry as Munchlax is."

Within thirty minutes, Gaius could see the outlines of buildings in Pallet Town. He quickly hurried, and in a few minutes he found himself on the main road in the city. There were numerous houses up and down the main residential street, each home having a small front yard that allowed for a few inches of space for gardens or other small objects. As Gaius continued down the dirt path, he saw a large building, with a sign sticking out above the door. The sign read "Pallet Town Inn." Gaius walked closed to the building, and noticed a small plaque next to a red door on the front of the building. Gaius read the plaque aloud, "a perfect place to rest for those starting their journey, or those heading on to Cinnabar Island." Gaius had heard about Cinnabar Island, but had never actually went there himself. Gaius pondered openly. "Hm..maybe I'll go to Cinnabar Island for my last badge. I hear the Gym Leader there is quite challenging. His name's Blaze, or something like that, if I remember my gym research properly."

After a moment of dreaming about his gym battle, Gaius entered the Inn, leaving his Munchlax outside while the trainer checked indoors. Behind the counter in the inn, there was a young looking woman, about Gaius's age. She was currently looking over a paperback book, while also reading a large textbook. It had seemed like she was not expecting any guests at this hour, so Gaius decided to take a few moments to examine her and his surroundings before he would make his presence known.

The woman had long black hair, that seemingly ended midway down her back, pale green eyes, and a fair complexion. She appeared relatively thin, compared to most girls and their average body weight, and was a few inches shorter than Gaius. The young woman was wearing a bright yellow sundress, which was casual, however it also had an air of sophistication about it, as if it was part of some inn uniform. Gaius quickly noticed a reflection of light, which his eyes led him to a bright bronze-colored name-tag on the woman's chest. On the name-tag, "Melody" was inscribed, with the words "Reception/Maid" placed underneath the name.

Gaius quickly glanced around the room, trying to see if there were any other signs of life, or other workers he could speak to, if this, "Melody" was too busy to help him get a room. He noticed a flight of stairs to his right, that presumably led to several guest rooms which were available for rent. There was a small bulletin board to to Gaius's right, on the wall next to the reception desk. The board had various fliers or posters attached. but Gaius was too far away to be able to read the details of any of the fliers or other paperwork. In front of Melody, beyond the two books which she was currently reading, there lay a large book, seemingly for guests to check in and request a room.

After finishing his surveillance of the reception area, Gaius politely coughed, hoping that Melody would get the message, look up, and assist him in obtaining a room. However, after Gaius's loud cough, Melody seemed unfazed, as if she had not heard anything at all. Gaius waited a few moments, seeing if Melody had a delayed reaction to his cough, but still, she stood, there reading two books at once. The trainer decided he would have to be a bit more direct to get Melody's attention."Hello," Gaius said loudly, his voice booming, "I'd like to get a room for the night, if that's possible."

The young woman quickly looked up from her books, and smiled. A small blush started to form on her cheeks, as it seemingly dawned on her that Gaius could have been waiting for several minutes. "Hi, I'm Melody. Welcome to the Pallet Town Inn. If you only need a room for one night, it's free of charge, assuming you have a Pokemon with you." Melody paused, and her eyes looked left, as if she was trying to remember something that she forgot to explain. After a few seconds, she began to speak again. "The Pallet Town Inn is funded by non-trainer guests, or Pokemon trainers who stay more than one night. Because of this, we can give weary Pokemon trainers a free place to stay if they only need a brief respite from their journey. Are you a Pokemon trainer, or how do you plan on paying for your stay?"

Gaius lifted up the bottom of his black jacket, revealing the Pokeballs he kept attached to his belt. "I assume proof of owning Pokeballs is enough to get me a room?" Gaius hoped he wouldn't have to go through much in order to get a free room. Granted, he had enough to pay for a room. In fact, he probably had enough to buy the whole inn, but, still, Gaius was trying to be as frugal as possible. Gaius stood in front of the counter, waiting for the receptionist's response.

"Oh, so you are a Pokemon trainer?" Melody asked, seeing Gaius's Pokeballs on his belt. "Since you only want to stay for one night, the room is free of charge. If your Pokemon are tired or need healing, we have a Pokemon healing machine located at the back of the main lobby, to the left of the reception counter." Melody pointed to her right, indicating where the machine was. "May I ask your reason for stopping in Pallet Town? Are you just starting your journey, are you on your way to Cinnabar Island, or are you just in the neighborhood?"  
Gaius thought for a moment, and then responded. "I just started my Pokemon journey a few weeks ago from my hometown of Pendragon. I got a recommendation to stop by in Pallet Town to see Professor Oak, so he could possibly give me an official starter Pokemon. Along the way,my Munchlax ate its own Pokeball, and I can't seem to find a way to remove it, and I don't want to wait until it comes out naturally. I hope that the Professor has a way of helping me to retrieve the Pokeball." Gaius paused for a second, and then he continued speaking. "Actually, do you know if your inn's healing machine can work to remove the Pokeball from Munchlax?"

"No, unfortunately our machine just heals Pokemon that our inside their Pokeballs. However, I'm sure Professor Oak can do something to help. He's one of the region's best Pokemon experts. Normally he's asleep at this time of night, but I'm sure you can see him tomorrow. Tomorrow happens to be the day when new trainers get their first Pokemon, so I bet his doors will be open bright and early for all of the new eager trainers. You might be able to get a Pokedex from him, even though you already have several Pokemon." Melody paused, and then bent down behind the counter. After a few seconds, she arose, and Gaius could see she was holding a small brown key in her hand. "Your room is up the stairs, and is the second door on your left. Breakfast is served at 8 AM, and our Pokemon healing machine in the lobby is open twenty-four hours a day. I hope you enjoy your stay at the Pallet Town Inn." Melody then placed the key on the desk, and went back to reading.  
Gaius stepped forward, his Munchlax in tow, and picked up the room key. He disliked the idea of staying in a homey inn, but at least he had a nice bed to sleep in. Gaius wondered what it would be like if he could actually sleep in a normal trainer's rest spot. 'I'm surprised they don't have a Pokemon Center or something in town, like we do. I guess they're too small to bother with.' Gaius then followed Melody's instructions and headed up the stairs, and used his key to open the second door on his left.

When Gaius looked into the room, the first thing he saw was a quaint twin bed that was tucked in the far right corner of the room. The room's walls were robin-egg blue, and the floor was clad in cream colored carpet. At first look, the room appeared clean, although Gaius could see several red stains at various locations on the carpet. The twin bed had a dark maroon comforter and two pillows near the head of the bed. There were angel white pillowcases that covered the pillows, and, as Gaius lifted up the comforter, he could see that there was a dark grey sheet on top of the mattress. Gaius's eyes once again looked towards the red stains on the carpet, and his eyes finally drifted upward, towards the ceiling. The ceiling was a shade of azure blue. Gaius could also see a pair of dark brown oval-shaped water marks on the ceiling.  
'Wow, I can't see how anyone would willingly want to stay here. At least it's free'. Gaius noticed a small desk with several drawers in the far left corner of the room. The desk had a small television set sitting on the left side, and a small table lamp on the right side. Thoroughly bored, given that he could not do any training or battle practice while in his room, Gaius decided to turn on the television. He decided to select a Pokemon news and battle channel on the television's remote control. 'Even if I can't train, I can still try and see if I can learn anything interesting,' he thought, as he sat on the bed to watch the television.

Currently, the channel seemed to be covering a special league battle between a Gengar and a Nidorino. The Nidorino seemed to try a Tackle attack on the Gengar, and then the pink Pokemon followed up with a Horn Attack. The ghost Pokemon easily avoided both normal type attacks, and jumped on the Nidorino's head, seemingly trying to make fun of the other Pokemon's lack of success. Gaius looked away from the television and shook his head, almost ashamed for Nidorino's trainer. 'Wow, I wonder why Nidorino's owner didn't use a poison type attack. Any decent trainer at all would know normal type cannot hit ghost type Pokemon. I guess Gengar's owner is going to have an easy victory.'  
When Gaius once again looked at the battle, he could see Gengar using a Hypnosis attack, which quickly put Nidorino to sleep. Nidorino's trainer then raised its Pokeball, and recalled his Pokemon. As the trainer was about to choose another Pokemon to send into the battle, Gaius sighed, and turned off the television. 'No thanks, I don't want to see what pathetic Pokemon you send out next. With your first choice in moves, I'll bet you'll send a Tauros into battle next.'

Gaius sighed again, feeling annoyed that there was nothing worth his time on the TV. He walked back towards the bed and collapsed, back first, onto it. The trainer had not even cared to get under the blanket. His Munchlax sat on the floor, leaning against the foot of the bed, and started to sleep. Gaius began to follow his Pokemon's lead, as the trainer closed his eyes, slowly drifting off into sleep. When the trainer awoke, he could hear the sound of three loud birds cawing, as if to signal the dawn of a new day.

Gaius stretched as he exited the bed, and began to change his clothes for the day. After he was changed, and the rest of his morning routine accomplished, he grabbed his backpack and walked downstairs. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, Gaius saw Melody casually sitting behind the reception desk, eating some scrambled eggs and a few pieces of bacon. The trainer waited until the girl had her mouth free of food before he revealed his presence and began to speak. "Hello, I'm going to check out today, thank you for the free night." Gaius smiled slightly, and then continued speaking. "However, you should really clean the carpet and ceiling of the room I stayed in. It looked pretty gross with the stains everywhere. You're pretty lucky I wasn't a paying guest, otherwise I'd demand a refund." As he finished speaking, Gaius quickly turned, his Munchlax in tow, and exited the inn before Melody had a chance to respond to his critique.


	5. Chapter 5: Death of a Would-be Legend

Gaius stretched as he exited the bed, and began to change his clothes for the day. After he was changed, and the rest of his morning routine accomplished, he grabbed his backpack and walked downstairs. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, Gaius saw Melody casually sitting behind the reception desk, eating some scrambled eggs and a few pieces of bacon. The trainer waited until the girl had her mouth free of food before he revealed his presence and began to speak. "Hello, I'm going to check out today, thank you for the free night." Gaius smiled slightly, and then continued speaking. "However, you should really clean the carpet and ceiling of the room I stayed in. It looked pretty gross with the stains everywhere. You're pretty lucky I wasn't a paying guest, otherwise I'd demand a refund." As he finished speaking, Gaius quickly turned, his Munchlax in tow, and exited the inn before Melody had a chance to respond to his critique.

The trainer then headed down the main road in Pallet Town, and could see in the distance a large building situated on a hill. As Gaius continued on the path, he could hear the sound of yeling and running behind him. He turned, and saw a young boy, no older than twelve, running towards him. The boy was clad in a pair of light green pajamas that featured a yellow stripe down the middle of the shirt. As the young boy ran towards Gaius, the runner almost collided into the trainer, causing him to jump back several feet to get out of the boy's path. After the near collision, the boy turned, stopping to address Gaius.

"Hey," the young boy said, "you should watch where you're going. Don't just go standing in the middle of the road. I could've ran into you, and I can't let anything stop me today!" The young boy turned away from Gaius, preparing to continue his run towards the building, when Gaius spoke up, "You know, since it was you who almost ran into me, perhaps you owe me an apology. Furthermore, why are you in such a hurry anyway, I'm sure whatever you're doing doesn't have to be done at extreme speed." Gaius shook his head at the young boy, surprised by his lack of courtesy. 'Whatever he's planning on doing, he should learn to slow down.'

"Oh, yeah," the young boy responded, acknowledging his mistake, "I'm sorry about that. My name's Ash Ketchum, and I live here in Pallet Town. I'm just in such a hurry to get my first Pokemon. I'm going to get a Squirtle from Professor Oak, and then I'm going to start my own Pokemon journey!"

Gaius chuckled, surprised by the young boy's ambitions. "Shouldn't you be a bit older to start your own Pokemon journey, you're like, what...only 12 years old? Wait until you're a teenager, then you'll be able to research what Pokemon you're interested in before you start out. I, myself, am a Pokemon trainer, and I just started out a few weeks ago. I know I could have started when I was younger, but, at least now I have researched pretty much every Pokemon int he Kanto region, so if I ever see a Pokemon in the wild from Kanto, I can instantly decide if it's worth catching or not."

"Wow, Mister, you seem really smart. I bet you have all sorts of cool Pokemon. Do you mind if I get a look at them?" Ash asked, excited by the prospect of interacting with Gaius's Pokemon. "By the way, what's your name? I don't want to have to call you Mister this whole conversation."  
"Oh," Gaius replied, remembering that he had not yet given his name. The trainer figured that he could indulge the young boy's wish. 'Perhaps he'll learn something about staying out of people's way if I feign friendship.' "My name's Gaius, Gaius Vi Britannia. I come from a small, overcast town Northwest of here called Pendragon. At the moment, I have a Gengar, Beldum, Tyranitar, Dragonite, Munchlax, Blaziken, and two Poliwag. Munchlax is the baby form of Snorlax, and Beldum, Tyranitar, and Blaziken are from outside of Kanto. If you want, I can show them all to you. My Munchlax is the Pokemon that's behind me." Gaius watched as his Munchlax stepped forward to introduce itself to the young boy.  
"Wow, thanks 'Gay-us'," Ash replied, mispronouncing Gaius's name. "You seem like a pretty cool guy, I'm sorry for running into you. Friends?" Ash extended his right hand for Gaius to shake.

"Well, it's 'Guy-s'," Gaius replied, slowly spacing the syllables of his name so Ash would catch on. "Yeah, I guess we can be friends. Maybe you can travel with me after you get a Pokemon, you might learn a thing or two from watching my amazing skills in battle." Gaius reached out and began to shake Ash's hand, however, as he shook, Gaius's mind began to be bombarded with a million images all within a second. He saw this young boy, Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, travel across the land, battling trainers and collecting all eight Kanto Gym Badges. He then could see the faces of hundreds of people Ash helped along his journey, and he could see the all of the various Pokemon he would encounter as well. Several particular Pokemon images seemed to surface above the rest. Images of a quadruped best cloaked in fire, a blue beast that could run on water, and a yellow striped Pokemon that controlled thunder and lightning. His mind was also focused on a pair of Pokemon that were grouped together. One was almost white, with a long, round purple tail that extended behind it. The other Pokemon was a small, pink creature that had a thin, long tail. Gaius could somehow feel the immense power of the two Pokemon, and, as his mind continued to be flooded with images, he could feel himself beginning to black out. A dark aura began to surround Gaius, and his eyes became as black as a star-less night.

When Ash saw the strange aura surround his new friend, he quickly withdrew his hand and stepped back several feet. "Woah, are you ok, Gaius?" He asked. "What's going on, is this some sort of trick or something? If it is, knock it off, it's kind of creepy." Ash began to take another few steps away from Gaius, hoping he could get away if anything else strange happened.

"No!" Gaius shouted, in a dark and deep tone, "you must not be allowed to live. I have seen into your future, and I know the damage that you will inflict to my plans. I'm sorry, 'Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town' but that was the last time you'll ever be able to say those words!" Gaius raised his left hand, and the dark aura that surrounded Gaius began to intensify itself and grow darker around his palm. "Prepare to die, Ash Ketchum. I hereby end your life so that my plan can be fulfilled!" Gaius lifted his hand higher, and an aura surrounded Ash.

The young boy tried to squirm, and tried to run away, but his feet seemed to be locked in place. "Whatever you're doing, stop it. This isn't normal. You should see Professor Oak, he may be able to help you stop whatever is going on with you. C'mon Gaius, let me go and we can go visit Professor Oak together." The young boy begged for Gaius to listen to reason, although, deep down, Ash knew that his life could be nearing its end.

"I'm the only one who will be making it to Oak's today, Ash. You, however, will just die right here." Gaius clenched his left hand into a fist, and Ash began to clutch as his throat, as if he was being choked. "If only you would have gotten up on time, Ash, you could have not ran into me at all. However, I guess, fate wants you to die by my hand."

Ash grasped again and again at his throat. He found himself unable to breathe, or even speak. As he could feel his last gasp of air leave his lungs, he began to think about what dying would actually mean. 'It can't all end here, I have to be a Pokemon trainer. I need to grow up, catch every Pokemon in the world and become an official Pokemon Master. No, I cant die now!' Ash's hands then fell from around his throat, and began to hang loosely at his sides. Ash Ketchum, the boy who, in another timeline, would be pivotal in many important events, died.  
"I guess you were never able to 'Ketchum' all, huh, Ash?" Gaius yelled playfully as he saw Ash draw his last breath. 'Now, time to dispose of the body.' Gaius quickly waved his right hand, and Ash's body vanished, as if the young boy was never there. He then heard a loud rustling noise, and the young trainer turned and could see his Munchlax running away as fast as it could. Gaius reached down onto his belt, and tried to find Munchlax's Pokeball. After a moment of looking, he remembered where the Pokeball was. "You had to eat that Pokeball, didn't you, you pathetic fool." He pointed his hand, fingers outstretched, in Munchlax's direction. An aura surrounded the normal type Pokemon, and slowly lifted it a few feet in the air.

The Pokemon still tried to move its feet to continue running, but then it looked down and found itself unable to run. "Munch?" The Pokemon asked, seemingly trying to make sense of how this was possible. The Pokemon then began to panic and yell loudly while flailing its arms and legs about.

Gaius calmly turned his left hand palm side up, and moved his four fingers towards himself until they were at a forty-five degree angle. Munchlax began to fly back towards Gaius, to which the Pokemon responded with more trashing and flailing. When the Pokemon was only inches away from Gaius, the trainer waved his hand in a circle and the Pokemon turned to face him. "I would hope that since this is the second time you've witnessed my power, you would know that you should not try to escape. If you ever try to run away again, or if you ever disobey a command I issue, you will end up just like that young boy." Gaius looked in the direction where Ash used to be. "Do you understand me," Gaius asked the Pokemon, "I would prefer it if I did not have to kill you."

"Munch...lax," the Pokemon replied, slowly nodding his head as much as he could within the aura. The Pokemon did not want to comply with the demands of this strange side of his owner, however, the Pokemon knew he had to do so if he wanted to survive.

"Good, now that we have that settled." Gaius lowered his left hand to his side, and the aura that surrounded Munchlax and Gaius dissipated. Gaius bowed his head, and,suddenly, the trainer's eyes returned to their normal color. He slowly raised his head, and clutched his right temple with his right hand. Gaius could feel an immense pain in his head, as if someone had opened his skull, hammered his brain, and then closed the hole in his head with superglue. Never before had he felt such pain in his entire life.

"Oh, my god, what happened to my head?" he asked aloud. 'I wonder what happened. Did I fall down and hit my head on something? The last thing I can remember is talking to the young kid named Ash. He was fawning over my Pokemon and I was about to show him my other Pokemon besides Munchlax.' Gaius quickly looked around, and saw that Ash was nowhere to be seen. However, Gaius turned around and saw Munchlax standing a few feet behind its trainer, silently looking towards the ground. 'I wonder where Ash went,' the trainer wondered, 'maybe he ran off to Professor Oak's after I collapsed in order to get help. I'll just call and see if he's there. If so, I'll let them know I'm ok. I really need to meet Professor Oak today, and I can't allow any foolish things to come in the way, like an unneeded visit to the hospital. I don't even know where the closest hospital even is around here.' Gaius sighed, his head pain slowly began to diminish as minutes ticked by. The young trainer reached into his pocket, and pulled out his cell phone. He quickly looked up Professor Oak's phone number and dialed his phone. Within a few rings, Gaius could hear an old voice on the other end.

"Hello, this is Professor Samuel Oak of the Pallet Town Pokemon lab. I'm currently not by the phone. I may be helping a Pokemon trainer, or I may be out in the backyard making my daily rounds. Please leave a message after the beep. If you are a new trainer who wishes to pick up a starting Pokemon today, I regret to inform you that all of our starter Pokemon have already been given out this year. If you happen to get a Pokemon as a gift from a parent, or other family member, please stop by so I can get you registered. Otherwise, please come back next year, and be sure to get up early!" Gaius could then hear a loud beep on the phone. Instead of leaving a message, the trainer hung up the phone, and stuffed it back into his pocket.

'If the Professor isn't answering the phone, he could already be talking to Ash. Or, he could even be calling an ambulance to come and see if I'm still lying in the middle of the road. I better hustle and get to the Pokemon Lab before Ash makes a fool out of me. How silly would it look if they send an ambulance and it turns out I just had a little dizzy spell.' Gaius quickened his pace and continued to walk in the direction of the Pokemon lab. Within ten minutes, he found himself at the bottom of a large hill. There seemed to be a large gathering of people who were congregated around the entrance of a path up the hill.


	6. Chapter 6: Showdown In Pallet Town

As Gaius drew near, he could hear a group of female voices shouting in a sing-song manner. "Gary, Gary he's our man, if he can't beat'em, no one can." Gaius began to mingle with the people in the crowd, some of which were having conversations with one another. From what he could overhear, all of their conversations had something to do with the "Gary" that was being sang about. When Gaius neared the front of the crowd, he could see a small group of young girls dressed in blue and white cheer-leading outfits. The cheerleaders began to cheer louder when a young boy, a little older than Ash, came walking down the path from the Pokemon Lab. The boy looked thin, had reddish-brown hair, and eyes that were a dark shade of spring green. He was clad in a light purple shirt, dark blue pants, and dark brown boots. The newcomer playfully waved towards the crowd, his entire demeanor having an aura of arrogance. The boy smiled for a minute, and then began to speak.

"Thank you fans, thank you all for this great honor! I promise you that I will become a Pokemon Master and will make the town of Pallet known all around the world!" The boy stopped for a moment, as he heard the sound of a car approaching the crowd. Within seconds, a red convertible sped down the path, and approached the car.

Gaius decided he could no longer sit idlely by and watch the crowd; of both children and adults alike, cheer on this arrogant "Gary" without any sort of response. Gaius yelled towards the boy. "What is so great about you that demands such respect and admiration. From what I gather, you're just starting out on your journey, therefore, you have no actual experience to back up any of your bravado. You're just an empty suit spouting off nonsense hoping that someone believes your bull. Honestly if you expect anyone to have any faith in you or your wild assertions, you should prove that you posses an ounce of ability before making such ridiculous claims. I've only been a trainer for a little more than a month, and I bet I have more skill in battling Pokemon than you ever will."

The young boy turned towards Gaius, with a look of fire in his eyes. "How dare you talk to the great Gary Oak like that, you old man? If you didn't know, I'm the grandson of the great Samuel Oak, the Pokemon professor here in Pallet Town. I've just gotten the best Pokemon available to new trainers, and I bet it can wipe the floor with any of your pitiful Pokemon. I see you have a Munchlax behind you. Is that the best Pokemon you got, or is it just your cute special friend?" Gary sneered, and began to laugh. "It's just a baby Pokemon too, I can't believe anyone would openly display such a weak Pokemon. At least make it battle until it evolves, then perhaps you could walk around with Snorlax. Oh, wait, Snorlax don't move!" Gary laughed louder, and his group of cheerleaders began to laugh with him. "I'll just chalk up your remarks to lack of information. Surely you'd never insult the grandson of the great Pokemon professor if you were on your way to see him. That is why you're here, right?" Gary smiled mockingly at Gaius.

"Yes, I am here to see your grandfather, but I don't think a man as great as Professor Oak would appreciated having a spoiled brat for a grandson." A small hush fell over the crowd as Gaius finished his sentence. "If you think you're so great, I challenge you, right here, and right now. Let's see if you actually have the stones to take on an opponent on your first day as a Pokemon trainer. If you want to refuse, just say so, and we'll all know you as the coward that you actually are." Gaius laughed, and waited for Gary's response.

"Why, you..." Gary began to shout, almost cursing at Gaius. "Of course I'll battle you. I'm not afraid to take on any trainer. Your defeat is assured, use any Pokemon you want, and I'll still beat it with mine. Pick your Pokemon, and I'll show you that you have no right to insult Gary Oak!" Gary then crossed his arms, awaiting Gaius's choice of Pokemon.

"Since you seem to think my Munchlax is so weak," Gaius replied, looking back toward his Munchlax, "I'll use it in battle to defeat you!" Gaius then turned to his Munchlax. "Do you think you're up for a battle in your condition?" The trainer then smiled at his Pokemon, hoping it gave yes for an answer.

"Munchlax!" The big eater Pokemon yelled. Munchlax seemed to nod its head, while looking directly at Gary. The Pokemon walked a few feet, until it was standing in front of Gaius. Munchlax had a determined look in its eyes, almost as if it wanted to prove Gary wrong.  
The crowd began to move away from both Gaius and Gary. The people slowly formed a line a few feet away from the two. Once all of the spectators were in place on both sides of the two trainers, Gary spoke.

"If you wanted a battle, you've got one!" Gary grabbed his newly obtained Pokeball from his pocked and hurled it onto the ground towards Gaius. The ball quickly opened, and a flash of white light signaled a Pokemon's appearance in battle. After the white light faded, a small blue Pokemon could be seen.

The Pokemon appeared to be similar to a tortoise, except while most tortoises are green in color, this Pokemon had light blue skin. It had two short, stubby legs, each with three toes, along with short arms, which had three fingers. The Pokemon also had a light yellow stomach, and Gaius could vaguely see a tail behind the Pokemon's backside. "Squirtle, Squirt!" The Pokemon yelled, joyously looking around at the world.

'That must be a Squirtle,' Gaius thought. 'That's a water type Pokemon. If Munchlax was a grass or electric type, I'd be having an incredibly easy battle. Well, I guess this battle couldn't be a total cakewalk. It wouldn't be any challenge if it was. Since he just got that Squirtle, I'm sure it barely knows any attacks. Therefore, this shouldn't be much of a hassle. Let's wrap this up quickly.' Gaius began to formulate a plan of attack to beat Squirtle.

Gary Oak stood defensively, eying his opposition. "Squirtle," Gary Oak yelled, "use Tackle attack. Then follow it up with Bubble!" The pokemon trainer then looked expectantly at his Pokemon, waiting for it to perform the attacks.

Gaius then waited a moment, before issuing an order to Munchlax. "Use Defense Curl. Then use Metronome attack!" Gaius knew that combining both offensive and defensive attacks would be a surefire way to victory. 'Let's see what will happen with Metronome. The attack can emulate any known attack. While it is slightly risky, it can also have huge rewards.'

Squirtle moved first, and the Pokemon pulled its head inside its brown shell. The Pokemon then lined its body up with Munchlax's and hurdled itself through the air. The blow seemed to rattle Munchlax, as it was knocked back several inches from the impact. After the Tackle attack, Squirtle's head popped out of its shell and it jumped backward to stand directly in front of his trainer once again. Moments later, the Pokemon shot several small bubbles at its mouth, and all of them were aimed at Munchlax. The normal type Pokemon seemed to shrug off the second attack, and was left unfazed.

Munchlax, still slightly rattled from the first attack, quickly grabbed its arms and legs and curled itself into a small ball. After a moment in that position, the Pokemon uncurled itself and stood up. Then, Munchlax began to wave its fingers back and forth. "Munch...lax," it repeated several times, as its fingers began to glow white. When the Pokemon's fingers stopped glowing, and three white rings of energy appeared above Munchlax, and then encircled the Pokemon. Small rocks then appeared out of the energy rings, and hovered over Squirtle, before finally crashing down on the water type Pokemon.

"Yes," Gaius yelled, happy that Metronome chose an offensive attack. "That was Rock Slide. It wasn't super effective, but, still, your Squirtle seems to already be in trouble. I wonder how you're going to be able to battle wild Pokemon if your Squirtle can't handle a simple trainer battle! Perhaps you should go to Pokemon School, young child." Gaius laughed, reveling in his current success in the battle.

"Don't count me out of it yet, you old man!" Gary yelled, defiantly. "I learned a lot about Pokemon from my grandfather. In case you forgot, he's the premier authority on Pokemon in this whole region! Just because of that, I'm already miles ahead of any other trainer, including you!"

Gaius smiled and laughed again. The older trainer began to shake his head as he began to speak. "Your lineage has nothing to do with being a successful Pokemon trainer. Just because your grandfather is famous, that doesn't automatically mean you inherited any of his skill." Gaius paused, thought for a moment, and then began to speak again. "Speaking of your family, why don't you ever speak of your father or mother? I guess they're not famous, so you don't get any respect just by throwing their names around." Gaius smiled, and laughed. He then noticed Gary bite his lip and he knew his words had an effect on the young boy.

Gary looked down toward the ground, seemingly forgetting he was in the middle of a Pokemon battle. As he started to speak, his voice came out broken, as if he was holding back tears. "My...my mother and father are dead. They passed away, a long time ago. I was raised by my grandfather since I was just a kid." Gary raised his hand to cover his eyes, Gaius could tell that the young boy was crying.

"Awe, you poor baby. Did your parents die of fright when they saw your face when you were born? Or, are you sure they're really dead, and that they just didn't run off somewhere and abandon you. Who would want you as a son, anyway? The only things that you have in your personality are arrogance and a sense of self-entitlement. You're not actually worthy of having a family!" Gaius sneered at Gary, watching as tears streamed down the young boy's face.

"You..you...how dare you! I'll show you!" Gary screamed, his face now puffy and bright red as he was crying freely. "Squirtle, use your Bubble attack, and then Tackle him again! We'll show him that he can't talk to us like that. Destroy him and his stupid Munchlax!"

Gaius laughed loudly, as he watched Gary's small Pokemon begin Gary's attack commands. "Munchlax, time to finish him. use Tackle attack at full force! Slam into him so hard that Squirtle will wish that he never left his shell. The sooner we finish this cakewalk, the sooner we can actually see Professor Oak." The older trainer smiled, as he saw his Pokemon ready its attack.

Squirtle slowly opened its mouth, and a stream of bubbles shot out towards Munchlax. The water Pokemon seemed quite pleased with its attack, until, once again, the normal type Pokemon brushed off its Bubble attack. Squirtle turned towards its trainer, and looked confused. "Squirtle, Squirt?"

That moment of hesitation was exactly what Gaius's Munchlax was waiting for. The obese Pokemon ran towards the distracted Squirtle, and when it was several feet away, Munchlax used its feet to propel itself a foot off the ground, striking the small water Pokemon with the full force of his body. The strength of the attack was so great that it sent the tiny Squirtle flying backwards several feet in the air, reaching just high enough to hit its trainer in the face with its body.

Gary yelled out in pain from the impact, and then looked down towards where his Pokemon had fallen. Squirtle had been knocked out using only two attacks, and Gary looked extremely upset. "No, Squirtle...I'll get you to the nearest Pokemon Center right away. We'll keep training to make sure that we're unbeatable." Gary held out his Pokeball and sucked his Pokemon back inside. After a few seconds, he began walking towards the car.

Gaius could see Gary move towards his car, and he spoke up as the young boy entered the car. "Where you going, Gary? Don't you want to continue the battle? Oh, wait, I forgot. You only have one Pokemon don't you? Well, I guess I won then!" Gaius laughed heartily, and then spoke to his Munchlax. "Good job, Munchlax. If we keep up battling like this, we'll get you evolved soon, and then you'll be an amazing Pokemon in battle, as good as any of the others I have." Gaius then reached down and patted Munchlax on his head.

Gary then turned around in his car, and addressed the crowd. "I promise, all of you, I'll train everyday to become a Pokemon Master. This won't be the last time you'll be hearing of Gary Oak. Keep your faith in me and I'll never let you down again!" When he finished speaking, the boy waited for his cheerleaders to join him in the car, and then directed his chauffeur to drive them to Viridian City. The car started up, and within a minute, Gary Oak was out of sight.

With their idol gone, and defeated, the large crowd that had gathered slowly began to disperse. Gaius could overhead many of them talking under their breath about how the young man was unnecessarily cruel to the boy, especially with his remark on the death of Gary's parents. Gaius shrugged off their words, he knew that his words were justified, although they were cruel. 'If anyone ever needed to be taken down a peg, or five, it was that kid. Only if he didn't have such an attitude, I wouldn't have had to publicly humiliate him. Well, I hope he learns some humility from the defeat, at least.' Gaius then looked up at the building that lay in front of him. 'We should get going, I don't waste any more time than I already have.'


	7. Chapter 7: Professor Oak's Laboratory

As the crowd finished departing, Gaius began to walk up the slope of the hill towards, the Pokemon Lab. However, before he had made even five steps, he caught sight of an older man wearing brown pants, a red shirt, and a long white lab-coat that almost reached down to his pants pockets. The man had dark grey, almost silver hair, several wrinkles across his cheeks and crows-feet in the corner of his eyes. Above his eyes, were extremely bushy black eyebrows. Gaius wondered if the old man had work done on his eyebrows to make them stand out, and was about to ask exactly that when the old man began to speak.

"Hello there, I'm Professor Oak. I heard a commotion from my lab and came to investigate what was going on. I couldn't see the whole thing, but I know you defeated my grandson Gary. " Professor Oak sighed as he mentioned his grandson's name. "Honestly, I've tried to raise Gary to be respectful of opposing trainers, and to view himself as their equals, despite his last name. Though my efforts had seemed in vain, I hope the defeat you dealt him helps him mature as a both a young boy, and as a Pokemon trainer." Professor Oak paused for a moment, his mind seemingly wandering at the thoughts of his grandson. Suddenly, he remembered that there was someone in front of him. "I'm sorry, I got sidetracked thinking of Gary. Anyway, what's your name? Is there something I can help you with? You seem to already have a Pokemon, so I don't think you need one of mine."

"My name is Gaius Vi Britannia, from the small town of Pendragon, Northwest of here. I just started my Pokemon journey a few weeks ago." The trainer then thought for a moment on how to phrase the next part of his response, and then answered. "Well, my Munchlax here apparently ate his own Pokeball. I've been unable to remove it using any means at my disposal, and I don't want to wait for it to come out naturally. Is there anything you can do to help?" Gaius stared at the professor hopefully.

"Oh, my." The professor replied. He knelt down in front of the normal Pokemon, and began to stroke its head. "So, you ate your Pokeball, huh? What would ever possess you to do something like that?" After a few moments of scratching Munchlax and rubbing behind its ears, the professor straightened up and spoke to Gaius. "Yes, I can most definitely help you and your Munchlax, Gaius. Please, follow me to my lab. I think I have just the thing."

"Oh, Professor," Gaius spoke, suddenly remembering his encounter with Ash Kethcum from earlier in the day. "Did you happen to speak to someone named Ash Kethcum today?" Gaius hoped that Ash had instead went home after Gaius had fallen onto the street. It would be better that then being embarrassed if the story were told to Professor Oak.

"No, I haven't seen Ash at all today. He was supposed to come pick up a Pokemon to start a Pokemon journey, but he must not have made it. When I gave out all three of the Pokemon I had available, I still hoped he would show up so I could try to offer him some alternatives." Professor Oak sighed, and then continued speaking. "He may have called when he woke up, and decided not to come when he heard the message I left. I better go see how he's doing later today. I bet he must be heartbroken about not being to start his journey this year." The professor then looked at Gaius, and asked. "Wait, how do you know Ash? Are you two friends or something?"  
"Well," Gaius answered, "he almost ran me down a bit earlier as I was coming to see you. He was incredibly excited about starting his Pokemon journey, and wanted to see some of my Pokemon. The next thing I knew, I looked up and Ash was no where to be found. I guess he went home or something, as you thought." Gaius hoped that Professor Oak would not be able to see through his lie. Honestly, the trainer did not care at all where the young boy named Ash was, as long as the boy was not interfering with his trip to see Professor Oak. 'I'm sure Ash will show up somewhere,' Gaius thought. The old man then turned away from Gaius, and slowly walked up the path towards the Pokemon Lab.

Gaius followed Professor Oak, walking slower as to not overtake the old man. The young trainer also turned around twice to ensure that Munchlax was keeping pace, and that it had not run off in search of food. Surprisingly, the Pokemon followed its trainer attentively, not being distracted at all along the way. Within a few minutes, the three of them had reached the top of the hill, and Professor Oak motioned for Gaius to come inside.

As Gaius entered the building, he could see a large hallway with multiple doors. To the left, past the hallway, Gaius could see a stairway leading to a second floor and a chest of drawers at the base of the stairway. Part of Gaius was curious to explore all of the building, but he felt that trying to prod too much could hurt his chances in talking with the Professor. As the Professor walked up the stairs to the second floor, Gaius followed him.

As the pair reached the top of the stairs, Professor Oak stretched his arms, sighed, and then began to speak. "Here we are, welcome to my Pokemon Laboratory. In case you didn't know, I study Pokemon not just to give them out as new trainers, but to also advance the knowledge of Pokemon as a whole for the entire World. Although I mainly specialize in Pokemon from the Kanto region, some of the trainers that began their journey in Pallet Town have already went on to other regions such as Johto and Sinnoh."

Gaius looked around the large second floor, and could see a wide variety of various machines or devices. On his right, there was several grey, squre, mechanical objects, and a large container that seemed to be filled with several gallons of water. Near the far right corner of the room there was a white drawing board, that was covered in writing that Gaius could not read from where he was standing. On Gaius's immediate left, there were several machines that were placed against the front left corner. One of the machines had a small screen above a sea of buttons and knobs. The adjoining machine had no screen, but had many more buttons and knobs. Gaius immediately was surprised that someone even as intelligent as Professor Oak could actually know what each of these machines did, and even possibly use a few of them simultaneously. In front of the corner machines was a small lab table that had many beakers and vials filled with different colored fluids. Gaius could also see a closed book on the table that seemed to be titled "Analysis of Seviper Poison", by someone named Professor Birch. 'I wonder if Professor Birch is a colleague of Professor Oak. Maybe I can ask about Professor Birch after Professor Oak is done removing Munchlax's Pokeball from his stomach.' Gaius paused in thought for a moment, and then his eyes continued to scan the room.

Further along the left side of the room, there was a large monitor above a keyboard and next to several other display panels that were to the screen's left. There was an old looking blue chair that was placed in front of the keyboard with the large monitor, and a machine with an overhanging pink sphere was located to the right of the machine with the large screen. Past the machines on the left side, there was a metal staircase that led to a small metal balcony that was about a quarter of the length of the room. Gaius could see a wooden door on the left side of the metal balcony. 'Perhaps that leads to the roof, or to an outside balcony,' Gaius thought. On the left side of the room, under the metal balcony, there seemed to be a cabinet which kept a mixture of hardcover books and what appeared to be Pokemon research videos.

-  
In front of the young trainer, there was a a large circular machine with a glass dome cover. Gaius could see three Pokeballs sitting under the dome, and an indentation where a fourth could be placed was in the middle of the three balls. 'Hm, I thought Professor Oak only gave three types of Pokemon to trainers. Maybe he, at one time, had a fourth to offer.' Gaius then looked past the machine that held the Pokeballs, and he could see a small brown sofa that was placed in the middle of the far side of the room, near where the white boar was located. To the left of the sofa was a small, brown desk such as the kind one might find in a gentleman's study. On top of the brown desk, there appeared to be an old style lamp that had a swiveling head. As Gaius was about to ask about the uses of the various machines in the room, a piercing noise could be heard.

"Ring ring ring, phone call, phone call!" A loud electronic voice yelled from across the laboratory. Gaius could see that the large terminal now showed a blinking picture of an old rotary-dial phone with the headset popping off and back on with each flash. 'Wow, that's a large telephone,' Gaius thought.

Professor Oak then quickly looked towards the videophone, and turned to Gaius. "I'm sorry, but I have to get that, I'll be right with you in a moment. I'm expecting a call from Talya and Kurt today about their Pokemon, and it's quite important. Just make yourself at home up here until I'm done." The professor then ran towards the large screen and pressed several buttons. Within a few seconds, the screen changed and displayed the faces of two people, one male, and one female.

The female appeared to be about Gaius's age, had slightly tanned skin, a slender face, and bright green eyes. She had red hair, which was about the color of human blood, and small, silver-colored earring studs in both ears. Her hair appeared long, but it appeared to be wrapped up behind her head, perhaps in some sort of pony tail. The male seemed to be a few years older than the girl, and he had pale skin, a similarly thin face, with dark blue eyes. He had shoulder length brown hair, which was parted down the middle of his forehead. Gaius could notice a small, diagonal shaped scar that ran across his forehead. The young man seemed to try to use his hair to hide the scar, but the scar was still visible underneath his brown hair. Both Talya and Kurt seemed to be huddled in around a small view-screen, as both of them kept trying to move closer towards the screen, or tried to center themselves in front of the screen. Gaius, who had begun to walk towards the brown sofa in order to sit down and relax, decided that he should pay attention to the phone call that Professor Oak was having with the two trainers.  
Professor Oak spoke first, addressing the two individuals that were on the phone. "I figured that you two would be in Mauville City by now. I called the Mauville City Pokemon Center and told Nurse Joy to tell you the good news." Professor Oak smiled, and awaited the pair's response.  
The male trainer responded first, although slowly, as if there was an amount of slowdown with the video call connection. "Well, Nurse Joy didn't tell us much, Professor, only that you needed us to talk to us. Is something happen to our Pokemon or something, is everything alright?" The young man looked puzzled, and glanced towards the girl who was standing next to him.

Professor Oak then laughed, and nodded his head. "Yes, yes, everything is alright, Kurt. I guess Nurse Joy didn't hear all of the message that I left for her. Do you remember that egg that I found a few months ago, after both of you sent your Loudred and Exploud to stay with me? Well, I've been checking on it daily and have been making sure conditions for hatching were at their optimal levels. Three days ago, as I was making my rounds before breakfast, I found the egg open, and I saw a small Whismur that was standing next to the broken egg. I don't know how it happened, but it seems as if your two Pokemon made an egg together."

"Aww," the young girl, presumably Talya, responded, "I guess my Loudred and your Exploud are in love, Kurt, just lke us." The girl giggled for a few moments, before a puzzled look crept across her face. "Wait, Professor. We both already have a member of the Exploud evolution family, and I'm not sure if we want to train another Whismur. They're cute, and all, but I don't want to start a collection of them or anything. My Loudred's enough." The girl then turned towards Kurt. "Honey, would you want the new Whismur, or are you happy with your Exploud?"  
Kurt leaned back from the screen, and slowly put his hand on his chin, as if he were trying to think about the decision that he had to make. After a few moments, the young man spoke up. "Yeah, I agree with Talya, Professor. I don't really think I want another Whismur either. My Exploud is pretty powerful, and you know how I like a well-balanced Pokemon team. At the moment, I have a Swellow on my team as my normal type, which is why I sent Exploud home to you in the first place. You're probably better off just offering it to some new trainer, or you could just keep it around on the ranch, in case later we decide that we want another Whismur."

Gaius's ears perked up as he heard all of these names that the Professor and the two trainers were using. 'Those names sound like Pokemon, but I haven't heard of any of them before. I wonder where they come from.' Gaius decided to voice his questions. "Excuse me, Professor, what kind of Pokemon are Exploud and Swellow? Where do they come from? I've read all about the Pokemon that can be found in the Kanto region, and I don't recognize any of their names at all."

Professor Oak then turned towards Gaius. "Oh, right. Gaius, you haven't been to the Hoenn region yet, right? Pokemon like Whismur, Loudred, Exploud, and Swellow all come from Hoenn. So far, Talya and Kurt are the only trainers, whose Pokemon are under my care, that have decided to journey to Hoenn. Kurt there," Professor Oak pointed to the young man on the view screen, "was able to get all eight badges in the Kanto Pokemon league. He then made it to top thirty-two at the Indigo Plateau last year. After that, he and his girlfriend, Talya," Professor Oak then pointed at the tan, young girl, "wanted to try another Pokemon League challenge, so they went to Hoenn. Honestly I'm quite glad that they decided to travel to Hoenn, most trainers go to Johto after their trip through the Kanto league, while those who are unable to get all of the Kanto badges just focus on training until they can participate in the Plateau. Hoenn has only recently been allowing foreign travelers to enter the region. I don't know a lot of details, but apparently there was some sort of Pokemon gang conflict that lasted about two decades. Things began to calm down there last year, and starting this year they re-opened the Hoenn Pokemon League." Professor Oak took a breath, and suddenly seemed to realize how much he had been talking. "Anyway, I can introduce you to Kurt and Talya if you like," the Professor offered.  
"Sure," Gaius replied, "I'd like that a lot." 'I wonder how many other regions actually have Pokemon League challenges. I've only heard about the one here in Kanto, but apparently there are at least two others. Johto and Hoenn, I wonder how long it will take to get there after Kanto. I should try to find out as much as possible now, since I'm in the company of both a Pokemon Professor, and two trainers that are actually in Hoenn right now.'

Professor Oak then turned back towards the view-screen, and then motioned for Gaius to come in front of the view screen so Talya and Kurt could see him. Gaius quickly rose from the sofa and made his way over to the view screen, Munchlax followed right behind him. "Talya, Kurt," Professor Oak said, looking towards the trainer that was standing next to him, "this is Gaius. Gaius just started his Pokemon journey a few weeks ago, but already has a Munchlax. Apparently the Pokemon ate its own Pokeball, so Gaius here came to Pallet Town looking for me to help with the situation." Professor Oak then could see the horrified looks on the two trainer's faces, causing the old man to quickly speak again. "Don't worry, his Munchlax is perfectly fine, it doesn't seen to be in any pain or be in any trouble at all." The Professor chuckled to himself, and pat the normal type Pokemon on the head.

"Hey there, Gaius." Kurt yelled, smiling as he spoke. "So you have a Munchlax, huh? What other kind of Pokemon do you have? I have a Swellow, Aggron, Venasaur, Manectric, Spoink, and Dusclops with me right now. I have a lot more in the Professor's lab, though, of course."  
Before Gaius could begin to list off his Pokemon, Talya quickly spoke. "Yeah, Gaius, what kind of Pokemon do you have? Or is Munchlax your only one? I have Blastoise, Mightyena, Linoone, Makuhita, Delcatty, and Shroomish. Both Kurt and I left most of our Pokemon at Professor Oak's when we traveled to Hoenn. The only Pokemon we brought with us were each of our starter Pokemon. We both think it's best to learn about a region by using a new team each time you travel around. What do you think?"

"Well," Gaius hesitantly replied, surprised by Talya's very outspoken personality. "I have Munchlax, Blaziken, Beldum, Dragonite, Tyranitar, Gengar and two Poliwag. I started with a Gengar. Gengar was casting illusions all over my home in Pendragon, but I was able to capture it in a Pokeball. Now, it's mine." Gaius smiled, and thought for a moment. "I guess I can see the appeal of using a whole new team when you travel, but I think it depends on each trainer. Some people don't do well with change, and a new region might be enough for them to handle, so they may keep their old Pokemon with them. To each their own, I guess."

Professor Oak turned towards Gaius, surprised at what the new trainer had just said. "Wait, you actually captured a Gengar on your own, and you didn't even have any Pokemon to battle with? How impressive, I haven't heard of anyone accomplishing such a thing before." The old man scratched the back of his head for a moment, and then a proverbial light bulb seemed to turn on in his head. "You said you have a Blaziken, Beldum, Dragonite, Tyranitar and not one, but two Poliwag? How surprising that you already have such a wide variety of Pokemon just weeks after starting out as a trainer. Dragonite and Tyranitar are Pokemon that I don't get to study that often, and, as I mentioned earlier, Hoenn wasn't open to visiting trainers for years. How about this, would you mind leaving some of your Pokemon with me? I'd love to have a chance to study some of them in greater detail. Since you have eight Pokemon with you, you'll have to leave some of them somewhere so they're not stuck in Pokeballs unable to get out.' The professor then paused and began to speak again.

"Possibly, if they're open to it, you could take Kurt and Talya's new Whismur since they don't seem to want it. I might also have another Pokemon that could pique your interest, but we can talk about that later." The Professor then turned towards the view-screen and addressed the two trainers. "So, what do you two think? Is it ok if Gaius takes your extra Whismur? It's better that its out and about training and getting experience than just sitting here anyway. If you aren't comfortable with it, I can just raise it here, if you want."

The pair of trainers quickly looked at each other, seemed to think about it for a moment, and then Kurt spoke. "Sure, if Gaius wants to keep our extra Whismur, he can have it. You're right, Professor, it is better that the Pokemon be able to battle and evolve with a trainer than just stay in your ranch forever." The male trainer then turned his attention towards Gaius. "Please make sure you keep good care of our Whismur. Treat it as you would any Pokemon that you caught yourself."

Gaius smiled, and nodded his head. "I'd be happy to take Whismur with me on my travels, and I'll definitely treat it well." Gaius continued to smile at the pair of trainers, and then turned to the Professor. "I'm just wondering, what does a Whismur look like, anyway?" Gaius had not had a chance to look into his new Pokemon, and wanted to know what kind of Pokemon it was.

Professor Oak closed his eyes and shook his head for a moment, not making a sound. He then raised his head and looked at the young trainer standing in front of him. "I might as well just show you in a minute, Gaius. I just need to finish up this call, then I can help your Munchlax and talk about the other issue I wanted to discuss." The professor then turned towards the viewscreen and adressed the pair of trainers. "Anyway, you two stay safe, and keep sending more Pokemon for me to study. You know, I can't ever get enough over here." Professor Oak laughed and then continued to speak. "Good luck to both of you in your gym battles and contests, I know you can make it to the Ever Grand Conference for sure, Kurt." The old man then smiled, and pressed a button on his keyboard and the two trainers vanished from the screen.  
The old man then turned to Gaius, and reached into his front right pocket on his lab coat. The professor pulled out a Pokeball from his pocked and offered it to Gaius. "This is Whismur's Pokeball. How about you two go outside and you can get introduced to your new Pokemon. You can find out what attacks it can do, and what its capabilities are by using this handy device." Professor Oak reached into his left pants pocket, and rummaged around inside, seemingly finding nothing. He then quickly checked his right pants pocked, and both pockets on his lab coat. "I could have sworn I had it here...hold on." After a minute or so of him checking and re-checking each of his pockets, he turned and walked towards his small table near the metal stairwell. "Ah, so I left it over here then," he mused, laughing as he picked up an object and walked back towards Gaius. The professor then thrust a small, red device in the young trainer's direction.

Gaius examined the device for a moment, before grabbing it from Professor Oak's hands. The object was slightly larger than the palm of Gaius's hand and had a bright blue orb in the top left of the device. Gaius assumed that the orb was some sort of sensor, either for visual objects or for detecting sounds. The device had an easy to open latch on its left side, which the trainer quickly opened. The interior of the machine had a small screen and a few tiny slits diagonally from the bottom of the screen, as if they were a miniature speaker. Under the speakers, there was a directional pad, and next to the pad there were two small, thin buttons. The buttons were colored grey and black, and there was a larger, circular black button to the left of the thin buttons. There seemed to be a small green touchpad or screen in the middle of the device, below all of the buttons. The right side of the machine looked much more complex. A small, long black screen was situated above two rows of light blue keys. There were five keys in each row, and two similarly looking white keys that were below the blue keys. Across from the white keys, on the right side of the device, there were two thin black buttons which looked similar to the buttons on the other half of the object. Under the two black buttons, there was a small, yellow circular button, and two screens were situated at the bottom of the right side of the machine. Gaius closed the object, and turned it over. The backside of the device seemed to have no features at all, and was smooth to the touch.

Seeing Gaius examine the object, Professor Oak chimed in, informing the trainer about the device. "That is a Pokedex. It's a high-tech encyclopedia detailing all of the Pokemon types, abilities, habitats, and moves that specific Pokemon can learn. If you say a Pokemon name, or look up a Pokemon using the menu, all of the known data for that Pokemon would be displayed. The Pokedex can also identify Pokemon based on the sounds they make, also known as their Pokemon cries. If you wish to gather information on a Pokemon that you see in the wild, or one that an opposing trainer is using in battle, you can point the Pokedex in the direction of that Pokemon, and the information should just pop right up. It's a pretty handy tool, and I should know, I designed it myself. Normally I give a Pokedex to new trainers starting their Pokemon journey, but, for you, I may be able to make an exception. Given that you've already caught a wide variety of Pokemon, I'm sure having a Pokedex would make your journey much easier as you continue to catch Pokemon and battle trainers."

Gaius glanced at the Pokedex in his hand, and thought for a moment. 'Although I already have a phone that can look up much of this information, having a machine like this would make the job of learning about new Pokemon much easier. I wouldn't actually have to type their name in, or a descripton of the Pokemon into the Pokedex, like I currently have to do for my phone. Hm...I guess I should take the old man up on his offer.' Gaius smiled, and began to speak.

"Thank you, Professor Oak. I'd be glad to take a Pokedex. If the machine is realy as great as you say, I'm sure it will be useful during my journey. So it's easy as just naming a Pokemon, right? Then information will pop up? I'll try it then." Gaius paused for a moment, thinking of what question to ask. "Pokedex, tell me about Gengar." 'It's probably best to test its abilities on a subject that I know quite well," Gaius thought.

After a second, the small round orb on the top left of the device lit up and began to blink. A robotic, monotone voice could be heard coming from the speakers. "Gengar, the Shadow Pokémon. Gengar is the final evolved form of Gastly. It can absorb any surrounding heat, leaving a sudden chill." After the short description, the blinking light faded, and the machine went silent once again.

'Hm,' Gaius mused, 'That's not a lot of information, but since it has information on its moves and power level, I'm sure it is still useful. I would like to test its capabilities on all of my Pokemon, but that would take way too long. Overall, though, I'm not impressed. Hopefully this thing will prove to be more useful in the future.' The trainer paused and then looked at the red color of the Pokedex. "I'm not trying to sound unappreciative Prof, but does this come in black?"

Professor Oak sighed, slowly taking the red Pokedex back from Gaius. "I guess...if you really want one...I could have a black model created for you. It would only take a few hours for my 3d printer to create a new outer casing, and then my machine could just paint the casing black instead of red. Unfortunately I can't just paint the exterior of this one as it is. Heh, I'd still like to keep this one in reserve anyway, in case Ash decides to show up later today. Oh yeah, that brings me to my other proposition that I wanted to discuss with you. You see, I happened to catch a wild Pokemon a few days ago to use in my research on electric Pokemon. However, the Pokemon's power output was outside the acceptable margin of error, so I couldn't use it in a test to determine the average power output."

"So, you mean, that the Pokemon was very powerful for its species?"Gaius interrupted the Professor, not caring for his long speeches. 'Come on Prof, get to the point. The less time I spend here talking to you, the more time I could be out training and testing out my new Whismur.'  
"Oh yes, the Pokemon is quite powerful. Anyway, since I cannot use it in my research, I was going to give it to Ash when he showed up, since all thre of the basic starter Pokemon have been chosen by my grandson Gary and two other children from Pallet Town. Now, what were their names again? Hm...well, I'm sure you'll meet them eventually." The professor then walked over to the large circular machine where three circular indentations were built into the base. He then pushed a button on the machine and a Pokeball rose up from a hidden middle slot in the center of the three indentations. "Since Ash hasn't gotten here yet, and since you said you saw him yourself, he must have decided to wait to start on his Pokemon journey. With Ash not here, and no other new trainers to give the Pokemon to, I was wondering if you would be interested in taking it. At least then, the Pokemon would be able to have a real life out seeing the world with a Pokemon trainer. That would definately be better than spending his life couped up in my coralle out back." Professor Oak reached down onto the machine and lifted up the Pokeball.

Gaius could see that the Pokeball had an a symbol of a lightning bolt etched onto the middle of the red half, right above the white button that trainers pressed to open up their Pokeballs. 'If the Pokemon is really as powerful as Professor Oak says, I have to add it to my collection. I'm sure it will be amazing in Pokemon battles, as well.' Gaius smiled, and slowly nodded his head. "If you think it's best, I'd love to take the Pokemon with me as I travel Kanto. Although, I'm just wondering, what species of Pokemon is it?"

The Professor smiled as he heard Gaius agree to take the Pokeball that the old man held in his hand. "Well, how about you just see for yourself," Professor Oak mused. He then pressed the white button in the center of the ball, and white light shot out from the ball and began to condense on the edge of the machine. Once the white light dissipated, a small, yellow Pokemon was standing a few feet away from Gaius.  
"Oh, I recognize that Pokemon." Gaius said, surprisingly. "That's a Pikachu isn't it? I've read about Pikachu in my research of Kanto's Pokemon. I've looked into most of the Pokemon that can be found around this area of Kanto. Pikachu can normally be found in the Viridian Forest, but they are extremely rare. Also, Pikachu can only evolve once, into Raichu, once it is exposed to a Thunder Stone. Furthermore, as with all stone evolutions, Raichu can only learn Technical Machine, Hidden Machine, or moves from specialist tutors. Did I get that all right, Professor Oak?"  
"Splendid, just splendid Gaius." Professor Oak beamed at the young trainer, proud that someone who had recently started his journey already knew so much. "You got everything exactly right and I don't think a textbook could have even put it better. I'm curious though, what caused you to want to find out so much about Pokemon on your own? Most trainers just wait to see Pokemon naturally as they come along in their journey, but you took the initiative to figure out so much on your own. I'm sure your parents are quite proud of you."

"Well, I've always wanted to try and keep myself informed about whatever I'm trying to accomplish. In this case, I'm trying to collect all eight gym badges so I can go to the Indigo Plateu. I figured, that since knoweldge is power, the best way for me to accomplish my goal would be to find out as much as possible about Pokemon in the Kanto region. Besides just looking up Pokemon that were native around this area, I've also looked at all of the Kanto Pokemon, although I probably won't be able to remember all of them until I actually see some of them in person." Gaius smiled and then paused as he thought of the best way to phrase the second part of his statement. "About my parents, Professor, they're actually both dead. I recently lost my father Magnus to a heart attack a little more than a month ago and my mother passed away in a car crash fifteen years ago. I don't remember much about my mother, Marianne, other than that she was a Pokemon trainer. My father raised me pretty much on his own after she passed. Since he was a businesman, he didn't see much use for Pokemon or support me going off on a journey. The only reason I'm here is because of his passing." Gaius slowly glanced towards Pikachu. The electric mouse Pokemon was casually looking back and forth, from Gaius to the Professor.

"Oh, my, I'm quite sorry about that, Gaius." The Professor closed his eyes for a moment and bowed his head, as if he was trying to comfort the young trainer for the loss of both parents. After a few minutes of silence, Professor Oak spoke quickly, as if a lightning bulb had just gone off in his head. "Wait, you said your mother Marianne passed fifteen years ago in a car accident and that she was a Pokemon trainer? You also told me before that you come from the town of Pendragon right?"

"Yes," Gaius replied, "but I don't see how that has..." The Professor quickly interrupted the young trainer, cutting him off in mid-sentence.  
"Your mother was Marianne La Morte!" Professor Oak exclaimed. "Well, at least that was her stage name, anyway. Marianne was quite skilled in Pokemon battling and was considered a dark type Pokemon expert. I remember reading about her passing when it happened. The timing was quite sad as well. She had a hearing scheduled for the month after her death with Mr. Goodshow and the other officials at the Pokemon League. She hoped that they would approve a dark type gym as a ninth Kanto gym, with her as the Gym Leader. Given her reputation and third place in the Indigo Plateu competition from when she was on her own journey, her proposition would almost have been guaranteed approval. Hm...if only her life wasn't tragically cut short, she could have revolutionized the Pokemon community in Kanto. I daresay she could have even risen to the Elite Four in a few years, I guess we'll never know."

"Wait, Professor," Gaius asked, "how do you know that my mother, and Marianne La Morte were the same person? Lots of people die in car crashes, and Marianne isn't exactly a unique name. I mean, it would be interesting if my mother was actually a famous Pokemon trainer, but are you sure it's really her?" Gaius paused, and then thought to himself. 'If my mother was really that successful of a trainer, that would make sense as to how I have so much natural skill. I doubt normal trainers would be able to control a Dragonite the first day of their Pokemon journey, but I was able to as if Dragonite had been my Pokemon for months.' The trainer then looked at the Professor as the old man quickly moved over to the large viewscreen and typed for a few seconds on a keyboard on the console of the machine.

Within a few seconds, a picture that Gaius recognized as his mother appeared on the screen. Marianne looked only a few years older than Gaius in the picture. She had long black hair that fell halfway down her back, light skin, bright blue eyes, and one earring that featured the Pokemon League symbol for dark type Pokemon in each ear. In the picture she was smiling, as if she was proud of some accomplishment she had just completed or some goal she had just attained. Gaius looked hard at the image for a moment before speaking. "That's...that's my mother, Marianne."

"I thought so," Professor Oak responded, smiling at the young trainer. "That settles it, then. Your mother was, in fact, Marianne la Morte, a dark type Pokemon expert. Although, I'm surprised your father never told you about her himself. I know you told me he didn't agree with the life of being a Pokemon trainer, but...she was still your mother, after all." The old man walked over to Gaius and patted him on the back, trying to comfort the young trainer.

"Yeah," Gaius replied, "I guess my father really didn't agree with her ideas at all. I hope that I can eventually follow in her footsteps, and possibly find a specialization of my own. Perhaps, some day, after I collect all of the Kanto badges and participate in the Indigo Plateu tournament, I could end up with a badge of my own." Gaius smiled and began to think. 'I wonder what kind of Gym I'd end up running. I could always try dark type, like my mother, or I could try for a ghost type gym, since Gengar is pretty much my main Pokemon.' The trainer was pulled away from his daydream by Professor Oak, who began to speak.

"Now that we have those issues out of the way, I can actually get to work on why you came here in the first place. It'll probably take me a while to locate the exact location of Munchlax's Pokeball within its body. Then, after I locate the Pokeball, I can use my Pokemon transporting machine to force the Pokeball to activate using the same infrared signal that can be used to transfer Pokeballs from the trainers in Pokemon Centers to the lab. Even if that sounds relatively simple to you, it may take an hour or so for me to both find and activate the Pokeball." The professor paused and looked at Gaius. "Speaking of your Munchlax, where is he?"

Gaius looked around the lab, until his eyes finally settled on Munchlax. The Pokemon had fallen asleep on the couch near the back of the lab, presumably when Gaius and the Pokemon were sitting down while Kurt and Talya were talking to the professor. "I guess he slept through all of that. I should go wake him up and tell him to follow your instructions for the procedure." As Gaius started to walk away, a Pokemon's cry caused him to turn around.

"Pika! PikaChuuu!" The small mouse Pokemon yelled at the trainer, reminding Gaius of its presence.

"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot I got you too, Pikachu. It's time to return to your Pokeball now." Gaius lifted up Pikachu's Pokeball and pressed the button, attempting to recall Pikachu. The Pokemon quickly jumped off the edge of the machine, avoiding the ray of light that would capture it. "Come on, Pikachu, you need to get back in your ball now." The trainer then walked to the other side of the machine, hoping to recall his Pokemon, but Pikachu was nowhere to be found.

"Oh, Pikachu ran over to this side, Gaius, as soon as it saw you walking towards it." Professor Oak paused as if he was remembering something. "I forgot, this Pikachu doesn't like to be inside its Pokeball. You could always just try to keep it outside the ball, or you could try to train it and coax it to be used to being inside a Pokeball. Just try to work on whichever option you think is best, it's your choice."

Gaius shook his head in disdain as he walked towards Professor Oak and saw Pikachu hiding on the opposite side of the machine. 'Just great, not only do I have a Munchlax that doesn't listen to me that well, I also have a Pikachu now that doesn't like to be in its Pokeball. Why couldn't all of my Pokemon be as obedient as Dragonite or Gengar?' The trainer sighed, and knelt down to speak to Pikachu. "You don't like being in your Pokeball, huh? Well, we can work on that later, but, for now, can you just try and follow me? Like this, I'll walk over to my Munchlax and you can follow right behind me so I can introduce you to him. Does that sound alright?"

"PIKA!" The mouse Pokemon replied as he shook his head.

"Hm, well, if you don't want to follow me, perhaps you could try to show off a Thundershock attack?" Gaius asked. "I'm pretty sure you should be capable of that attack. All Pikachu usually start off knowing that, so it shouldn't be too hard for you." 'I hope I can at least make Pikachu do something, otherwise this will seriously be a pain to train it.' Gaius smiled weakly at the Pokemon, hoping it would follow his instructions.  
The Pikachu smiled slyly, and electricity began to buildup in its body. Within a few seconds, a bolt of electricity shot out from the electric Pokemon. The bolt then traveled above the Pokemon, until it hit the ceiling of the Pokemon Lab. Within a few seconds, all of the machines that were in the laboratory turned off, as well as all of the lights and lamps which were placed around the lab as well.

"Well," Professor Oak mused, "I guess your Pikachu short circuited the electricty in the building. I'll have to go and reset the breakers, but hopefully the power will come back on soon. I'll be just a moment, don't worry about the slight power outage." Professor Oak then walked down the stairs of his lab, presumably to wherever the fuse boc was located.

Gaius quickly glared at Pikachu, as the Pokemon had begun to laugh when the power went out. "You think you're funny, huh? It's not right for you to use your electric attacks like that to mess with people's buildings. For all you know there could be sick Pokemon that the Professor was taking care of that are some form of life support. Did you really want to risk those Pokemon's lives just to play a joke on me and the Professor? If you're going to be my Pokemon, you're going to have to behave and follow your trainer's instructions. I won't ask much of you, just try to train your hardest and battle Pokemon when called upon. I'm sure you'll have a lot more fun with me than being stuck here with Professor Oak for the rest of your life." Gaius paused as he considered what to do next. "How about you meet my other Pokemon, so you can have an idea of who you might be traveling with." 'This will also give me an opportunity to see my new Whismur in person,' Gaius thought.

As Gaius reached down towards his Pokeballs, he then realized that he was carrying two too many. "Oh yeah, I already have Gengar, Blaziken, Dragonite, Tyranitar, Beldum and my Munchlax. With those guys, and my Whismur and Pikachu, I have eight Pokemon. Since a Pokemon trainer is only allowed six Pokemon on them at once, I'll have to leave at least two of my Pokemon somewhere. I'll see if I can find somewhere near home who has a Pokemon ranch in Pendragon, I could always pay them to hold my Pokemon that I'm not using. Or, wait...Professor Oak said before that he wanted to study some of my Pokemon. I could always ask him if I could store all of my Pokemon here, anyway. That way I'll have a free place to keep them, and I won't have to worry about having to come back to my hometown if I want some transferred." Gaius smiled, and then opened up his Pokeballs. "Come out everybody, and meet my new Pokemon!"

Soon, the large room in Professor Oak's laboratory seemed quite small. Tyranitar and Dragonite were slowly walking towards Pikachu, Dragonite smiling while Tyranitar seemed to grimace. Blaziken began to run laps around the lab, stopping every other lap to stand in front of a different Pokemon, almost as if he was introducing himself. Beldum began to use Take Down repeatedly, trying to hit the extremely fast Blaziken as the fire Pokemon made its rounds. Gengar began to sneak up behind the shy Whismur, who was currently trying to hide behind Pikachu.  
"Oh," Gaius exclaimed as he noticed the new Pokemon among the bunch, "I guess that's my Whismur, then." Whismur had a small, round pinkish body, with one stub-like arms on each side of its body, and two yellow-tipped feet. On top of its head, it had long rabbit-like ears that were the same color of its body, with yellow tips just like the tips of its feet. Gaius's Gengar neared the Whismur from behind and jumped out, uttering its Pokemon cry. "Gengar!" Within a few seconds, the room was filled with earsplitting noise.

Whismur had begun to cry the second that Gengar scared the small Pokemon. Whismur's cries were so loud and deafening, that all of the Pokemon immediately covered their ears. Gengar seemed unaffected by Whismur's cries, as the Pokemon only laughed as all of the others, save Beldum, were feeling immense ear pain. Beldum simply fell towards the floor, slowly repeating its own name, "Beldum..Beldummm." All of the other Pokemon begun to yell at the Whismur, presumably to tell the Whisper Pokemon to cease its cries and to calm down. Whismur's trainer was also quite surprised by the noise, tried to quickly think of a solution to the problem.

'I have to think of a way to calm Whismur down, or, at the very least, incapacitate it. I don't know how long my ears can last before they start bleeding. Come on, Gaius, think of something quick!' Gaius first reached down hoping to find Whismur's Pokeball, but discovered that it lay near the normal type Pokemon. 'I'm not sure if I can get any closer to Whismur without my ear drums bursting. I have to think of some other way.' The trainer quickly scanned the room until he noticed that his Gengar seemed unaffected by the normal type Pokemon. 'If I can get Gengar to hear me, he might be able to put a stop to Whismur. I just need to get his attention and then I can issue a command.' The trainer began to yell Gengar's name for several seconds, until the ghost type Pokemon looked his way. 'Good, I think he noticed I was calling to him. Now I just have to get him to stop Whismur.' "Gengar, use Hypnosis on Whismur," Gaius yelled frantically, trying to make his voice be heard over the deafening cries of the Pokemon. "Gengar, I said, use Hypnosis on Whismur. It needs to stop crying, and I don't know how to calm it down!"

The ghost Pokemon seemed to hear his trainer's command, causing him to float effortlessly in front of the normal type Pokemon. Purple circles of light emanated from Gengar's eyes and traveled to Whismur's. Within a few seconds, the Whisper Pokemon fell on its back, and its cries stopped completely. All of the Pokemon seemed quite happy that Whismur was incapacitated, each of them looking at Gengar and seemingly voiced their approval.

Gaius smiled and then walked towards his newest, sleeping Pokemon. He calmly picked the small Pokemon up in his arms, and rocked it for a few seconds. "Time to wake up, Whismur. I know you're just a baby, but we need to lay down some guidelines, ok?"

The Pokemon woke up as its trainer mentioned its name, smiling up at Gaius as it was being rocked. "Whismur..Whis..murr," the Pokemon slowly cooed.

"Good, now that you're awake again, I need to tell you when you're allowed to use moves like that, ok? I know Gengar probably scared you, but it was just trying to make you laugh. It didn't know that you would be sad or upset, ok?"

"Whis...mur.." The Pokemon seemed to nod and accept what it was being told.

"Now," its trainer said, continuing where he left off, "if you ever get scared again, instead of crying, run back to me, ok? I'll bring you back into your Pokeball, unless you're in the middle of a Pokemon battle. In that case, I may need you to fight for me, ok? But don't worry, I'll try not to ask you to fight anything too scary. Now, if for some reason you and I are separated during my journey, stick wth Pikachu. Pikachu is about your size, and is new to having a trainer, just like yourself. I'm sure he wouldn't mind keeping you safe, right, Pikachu?"

"Pika?" The electric Pokemon at first seemed reluctant to agree to Gaius's proposal, but after a minute the yellow Pokemon nodded its head.  
"See, don't worry Whismur, Pikachu and I will keep you safe. Now, how about you and I try some training later when Professor Oak comes back from fixing the electricity. Pikachu and you can try to do some practice battling together. Since you're both my Pokemon, you won't really hurt each other that much, but don't be afraid to use your full power, ok?"

"Whismur!" The normal type Pokemon exclaimed.

"Pika!" Pikachu also seemed to agree to the proposal.

Gaius slowly put Whismur on the floor and then quickly began to recall his other Pokemon, save Pikachu. "Thanks Gengar you did a good job," he praised, as he recalled his ghost type Pokemon last. Gaius then looked over towards the couch and noticed that his Munchlax was still sound asleep in the exact same position it had been since before Whismur's outburst. "Wow, Munchlax, I guess you really can sleep through anything." Gaius then heard the sound of someone coming up the stairs.

"Hello, Gaius?" An old voice could be heard as the sound of footsteps grew louder and closer. Within a few seconds, Professor Oak was at the top of the stairs. "I was able to fix the electricity, I think. I put the laboratory power grid in automatic reset mode, so it should be coming back on my itself in a few minutes. Say, I heard quite an obnoxious racket while I was in the basement. It sounded as if someone was screaming at the top of their lungs. Was that your Whismur by any chance? I should have probably warned you that they can get quite loud if they get scared or startled and most Whismur trainers invest in some ear plugs when the Pokemon is in battle. Some of Whismur's basic attacks can be quite loud themselves, not to mention what Exploud sound like when they're in battle. It seems you were able to calm Whismur down on your own though, so I guess it's good that you got some training in on how to take care of it."

"Yeah," Gaius said coolly. "I really wish I would have found that out beforehand." Gaius paused as he looked back towards his Munchlax. "Now that the power should be coming back soon, should I get my Munchlax ready for you to retrieve the Pokeball?" Gaius then looked towards the Pokeball transport machine, which was by the large monitor. "The space between the top and bottom of that machine looks slightly small. How are we going to get Munchlax in the gap for you to remove the Pokeball?"

"Don't worry, Gaius," Professor Oak replied, "I'm sure he can fit, plus, the top of the device can be raised up to a foot if needed if Pokemon without Pokeballs need to be transferred. We should be able to get Munchlax to lie on his back, and the space should be sufficient." As Professor Oak finished speaking, the lights in the laboratory slowly lit up again, and all of the machines came back to life as well. "Wonderful," the proessor added as he saw the electricity return, "now, get your Munchlax over to the machine so I can start my work. In the meantine, you can go out and start training Whismur or Pikachu out in my ranch. If you decide you want to go out and try and catch some more Pokemon, than feel free to do that as well."

Gaius walked over to where his Munchlax was sleeping and tried to rouse him. "Munchlax, wake up. It's time for you to get that Pokeball removed now. The sooner you get it removed, the sooner I can ask Professor Oak if he has any special Munchlax food for you to eat." Even at the mention of food the Pokemon did not stir. The trainer put his hands on the normal type Pokemon's shoulders and gently shook him. "Come on Munchlax, you have to wake up now. I'll give you a lot of food if you do and we both know how much you love food." The Pokemon slowly opened its eyes and looked at its trainer. "Good Munchlax," Gaius continued, "now get up and follow me. we're going to walk over to that machine and then you're going to lay down there. You can probably even go back to sleep there if you want while Professor Oak prepares to perform the procedure." The young trainer walked towards the machine situated next to the large computer with Munchlax and Pikachu following behind him.

When the human and his Pokemon reached the machine, Gaius turned to his Munchlax. "Ok Munchlax, now you need to get up on the machine. Try to jump or climb up, I don't think that either myself or Professor Oak can lift you up that high." Gaius smiled and laughed at the thought of he and the Professor lifting up such a heavy Pokemon.

Munchlax walked up to the machine and tried to use its hands to pull itself up on top of the machine. After several failed attempts at pulling itself up to the machine, the Pokemon then tried to jump up to reach the machine. Unfortunately, Munchlax could only jump a few inches off of the ground, so the second plan failed as well. "Munchlax, Mun," the Pokemon said, apparently at frustration from his lack of success.  
After watching his Pokemon try and fail to reach the Pokeball transporter, Gaius reached down onto his belt and pulled out a Pokeball. "Gengar, come forth and help lift Munchlax onto that machine. It needs to get on there to have his Pokeball removed." The trainer threw the ball into the air and his ghost Pokemon appeared in a flash of white.

"Gengar, gar gar," his Pokemon yelled, laughing as he watched Munchlax continue to fail in its attempts to reach the machine. After a few moments of laughter, Gengar waved his hands and a light purple glow surrounded Munchlax. Gengar then raised its fingers into the air and the normal type Pokemon began to float several feet of the ground. Within a few seconds, the ghost type was able to maneuver Munchlax onto the Pokeball transporter. "Gengar," it said, smiling as it completed its assigned task.

"Thanks Gengar, it's time to return to your Pokeball now," Gaius replied. The trainer pressed the button on Gengar's Pokeball and watched as the ghost type was sucked inside its Pokeball. With Munchlax situated on the machine and Gengar returned to its Pokeball, Gaius turned his attention back towards Professor Oak. "Now that Munchlax is on the machine, you can begin, right?" The trainer watched as Professor Oak nodded affirmatively. "Thank you for agreeing to help. Furthermore, I've decided who I want to bring with me after I leave the laboratory. You can keep Tyranitar, Dragonite, Blaziken, Beldum, and one of the Poliwag here. That will leave me with space in my party if I end up catching someone else before I reach the next town. I kind of wish that I could bring Beldum with me as it still needs to evolve, but frankly it only knows one attack, so I'll try and train it later at some point. Plus the Pokemon is from Hoenn, so you can have the chance to study it." The trainer handed Professor Oak the Pokeballs that he chose to leave and then turned and began to walk towards the stairs that led to the ground floor of Professor Oak's lab. Pikachu quickly followed behind his trainer.

Professor Oak nodded as Gaius handed him the Pokeballs. "Thank you for you giving me the opportunity to study some of your Pokemon while they're here at my lab. I'll make sure my assistants and I take good care of them while you're away." As Gaius started to walk down the stairs, Professor Oak called out to the young trainer. "The total time for prep and for the procedure will be about an hour or so. Just be sure to come back to the laboratory a little after an hour is up. I'll call you on your cell phone if anything comes up."

Gaius smiled and nodded as he walked down the stairs, quickly exiting the lab from a back entrance which led to the backyard where stored Pokemon graze. As he looked upon the field, the trainer could see many various Pokemon that were playing or grazing about. "Wow," he said, surprised at the variety of Pokemon there, "That's a Nidoking there and I can see a Nidoqueen standing right next to it." Both Pokemon were hunched over eating a large, shared bowl of Pokemon food. Gaius then turned his head to the right and saw even more Pokemon. "Oh, look. That's a Sandslash and a Primeape who seem to be sparring over there. I guess they're both trying to train to make themselves stronger." Gaius smiled and continued to comment on several other Pokemon, until he decided that there were simply too many to name.

After looking at many of the various Pokemon that were either playing, training, or eating in the backyard, Gaius found an open area that seemed devoid of Pokemon presence. He then turned to Pikachu, who stood a few feet behind him. "Pikachu, I know we kind of got off on the wrong foot, but would you like to help Whismur train a bit? I need to see what both you and he are capable of so I can plan on how to win battles using both of your skills. Would you be all right with sparring a bit with Whismur?"

"Pika," the electric mouse Pokemon replied hesitently, reluctantly agreeing to his trainer's proposition. Pikachu then moved a foot in front of Gaius and waited for him to call forth Whismur so that the Pokemon could train.

Gaius reached down onto his belt and pulled off Whismur's Pokeball, throwing it forward a few feet after he pushed the button on the Pokeball. He then watched as the small, pink Pokemon exited the ball and stood several feet in front of the trainer and Pikachu. "Whismur, would it be ok if you trained with Pikachu? I promise you won't get hurt, or anything. If anything ends up happening, we're right outside Professor Oak's, so you can get help there."

Whismur nodded and assumed a fighting position as it waited for Gaius to issue a command to Pikachu. "Whismur, Whis," it yelled as it tried to make a strong first impression in the battle.

"Pikachu," Gaius yelled, "start off with a Thundershock attack. Whismur, use whatever attack you can to counter Thundershock. If you don't have any attacks that can counter the attack, try to use whatever attack you can to stop Pikachu in its tracks." Gaius smiled as both of his Pokemon prepared to battle. 'I'm quite glad that I thought of this training method. By pitting my Pokemon against each other, I can test their potential without having to actually find a wild Pokemon or other trainer to deal with. Let's see what these Pokemon are actually capable of.'  
Pikachu's body began to glow yellow as it prepared to unleash a strong Thundershock attack. "Pika," the electric mouse Pokemon yelled as a electricity shot from its body towards the small Whismur. The normal Pokemon seemed completely unsure of how it should respond in a situation like this. Obviously this was the first time that the Pokemon had ever trained with another Pokemon, let alone participated in a battle.  
Gaius tried to call out to his Pokemon, hoping to bring it to its senses. "Whismur, you have to think of some attack that you can do. Try to incapacitate Pikachu so it can't attack you any more. Don't worry about hurting Pikachu, if this were a real Pokemon battle you would have to do everything it takes to knock out the other Pokemon. Don't ever hold back, holding back only leads to defeat and loss. You don't want to lose, right?" The trainer then watched as Whismur was struck by Pikachu's Thundershock. "Whismur, now, counterattack before your opponent strikes again. Pikachu, begin to charge another Thundershock!"

Whismur began to look at Pikachu with a hint of defiance in its eyes. It seemed as if the Pokemon wanted to prove to both itself and its trainer that it had true strength and potential. The small normal type Pokemon rushed towards Pikachu as its left arm began to glow white. Whismur swung its arm, causing a white crescent blade to fly from its arm towards its opponent. The blade hit Pikachu directly in the face, causing the Pokemon to be knocked back a few feet.

Pikachu looked slightly shaken by the attack, however its body soon glowed yellow as it prepared to expel another burst of electricity from its body. The Thundershock attack traveled quickly from the electric mouse's body to its target, leaving Whismur engulfed in electricity as it felt the full force of the attack. "Pika," the Pokemon yelled, courageously celebrating its success so far in the battle.

Gaius quickly interjected when he saw Pikachu begin to look complaisant. "Pikachu, stand ready. Just because you're doing good so far doesn't mean a thing. All can change with just one move in a Pokemon battle. If you let your guard up at all, you're only inviting defeat." The trainer paused while thinking of a new command. "Now, try a Quick Attack. See if you can finish it off before Whismur can even make a second move!" 'I hope that this battle will teach Whismur that it has to think on its feet if it wants to stay conscious in Pokemon matches. It can't afford any type of mistakes at all, especially if this would have been a gym battle.' The trainer then watched as his Pikachu quickly ran towards Whismur.  
Pikachu began to speed up, closing the gap between himself and his opposing Pokemon in mere seconds. As the electric mouse was inches from Whismur, the yellow Pokemon jumped off the ground and slammed its body hard into the normal type Pokemon. Whismur fell backwards and quickly found itself unable to move or attack. Gaius quickly looked at Whismur's condition and then spoke. "Pikachu, that's enough. Whismur is unable to battle, you win this sparring competition." The trainer then approached his almost knocked out Pokemon and knelt down so he could pick up the small, pink Whismur. "Just because you happened to lose this one, Whismur, doesn't mean that you should stop trying to be strong. The only thing that separates you and Pikachu is that you're barely more than a newborn. I'm sure as we travel you'll get stronger and eventually evolve into a Loudred or Exploud. Try and be more confident in battles and you'll do better every time." Gaius then smiled as his baby Pokemon and quickly recalled it into its Pokeball. "Rest easy, Whismur," he said to himself, as he fastened the Pokeball back onto his belt.

With the sparring match over, Gaius decided to spend the rest of the time relaxing out in the backyard. He laid down on his back and glanced up at the sky, analyzing all of the large white clouds that floated overhead. The trainer then turned to his Pikachu, who was standing nearby. "Hey, Pikachu. I hope you were listening when I was talking to Whismur, the same goes for you, too. Although you won the competition, you shouldn't ever be lax or too confident. Always try your hardest and always make sure your moves have the maximum possible power output. We're going to be battling gyms ahead and you're probably going to be staying on my team for a while." Gaius laughed and smiled at his Pikachu. "It would be kinda hard to send you back to Professor Oak from out in the wilderness after all, if you still refuse to go back into your Pokeball." The trainer paused and then reached down onto his belt. He quickly pulled out Pikachu's Pokeball and tried to recall the yellow Pokemon. When the electric mouse saw what he was attempting, the Pokemon quickly fired off a Thundershock attack which landed a few inches from its trainers feet. Gaius then shook his head in exasperation. "Ok, I guess no Pokeball still. Fine, I can get used to you walking behind me." He then sighed, and continued looking up at the clouds.

In what only seemed like a few minutes later, Gaius heard a loud beep coming from his cellular phone. He quickly pulled the device out of his pocket and learned that a full hour had just passed since he and his Pokemon went out as Professor Oak began to work on his Munchlax. The young trainer got up, quickly brushed himself off, and went back into the Pokemon lab. As Gaius climbed up the stairs to Professor Oak's laboratory, he heard the sound of the Professor's voice.

"Now, Munchlax, aren't you happy now that we've removed the Pokeball?" Gaius reached the top of the stairs and saw Professor Oak gently patting the normal type Pokemon on the head. When the old man saw Gaius, he quickly turned and addressed the trainer. "Ah Gaius, you came just in time. I was able to complete the procedure only a few moments ago. Oh, and don't worry, the process was a complete success. I was able to remove the Pokeball and your Munchlax didn't feel a thing." Professor Oak reached into his pocket and pulled out a Pokeball. He then outstretched his hand and gave the ball to Munchlax's trainer. As he handed it over, the professor looked at the ball and began to speak again. "In case you were curious, the Pokeball also is in perfect working order and suffered no ill affects at all from being in Munchlax's stomach. Pokeballs are built to be very durable and can take quite a beating before ever breaking. In addition to being waterproof, which of course was a necessity for water type Pokemon trainers, Pokeballs can be exposed to high heat and a variety of other conditions that would normally disable most electronic devices. I wouldn't be surprised if the Pokeballs that we use today won't still be functional hundreds of years down the road, either." The old man smiled as he looked back at Munchlax. "Anyway, I'm sure you would like to get back to your adventure. I know I wouldn't want to have to sit around if I had just started out on a Pokemon journey, so I don't want to hold you up either."

Gaius smiled and shook his head at the professor. "Nonsense, I quite enjoyed being able to meet you, Professor Oak. I'm also quite glad to know that my Pokemon will have a nice place to come to when I catch more in the wild to add to my collection." The young trainer paused for a moment as he pondered a possible problem. After a moment, he quickly began to speak again. "I'm just wondering, do you happen to have some sort of portable Pokeball transport device? I know all Pokemon Centers have video phones and transport machines, but my adventures may not always allow me to be close to a Pokemon Center. I might also need to quickly switch Pokemon out before a Pokemon battle at a gym, or I may want to switch my newest capture into my party so I could train it to evolve as soon as possible. I haven't heard of such a device out for public use, but I know if such a device exists, you would be the one to have it. If money is an issue, I could pay you anything you require to help cover the expense."

Professor Oak heartily laughed and then shook his head. "No, no, I don't charge for my services. I get enough funding from the Pokemon research organizations to fund all of my activities here. Plus, I enjoy studying Pokemon and helping young trainers like yourself simply out of the goodness of my heart. If people like me, and other Pokemon professors, didn't actually like studying Pokemon, I'm sure we could all have chosen a different like of work." The professor then scratched his chin for a moment as he contemplated what to say next. "But, about your question, I may have just the thing. Bill Sonezaki, the Pokemon researcher who lives in Cerulean City, happened to send me a prototype design for a Pokemon transporter a few weeks ago. I've tested the design myself, so I know it works, but I'm unsure about the range that the device can transport over. Bill doesn't get out much from his cottage, so he can't exactly test the range out either. I wouldn't mind letting you borrow the machine for a while, so you can test it out yourself." He turned and quickly went to his wooden desk and opened the bottom drawer. He then pulled out an object that was about three fourth's the size of a counter-top coffee machine.

Instead of there being a carafe, there was an open space with a small, circular ridge on the bottom of the opening. There were about four small rectangular buttons located under the opening and a small blank screen that Gaius surmised was a digital readout of some sort. The two buttons to the left of the screen had an arrows printed on them, one button pointing up, and the other arrow pointing down. The other two buttons were on the right side of the screen, with one being colored green, and the other red. A small grey, flat back connected the base of the machine to an overhanging piece. The overhang was shaped like a smaller version of the Pokeball transporter, with a similar pinkish orb on top of the overhanging piece. Professor Oak handed Gaius the machine, and then began to explain the machines functions.

"The buttons here on the left can select where you want the Pokeball sent. All of the standard Pokemon centers should be in the database, as well as of course my lab. Once you select where you want to sync up your machine, press the green button on the right. Then your Pokeball will either be sent to there or you can receive a Pokemon from that location. Once you're done sending or getting Pokemon, simply press the red button to turn the device off." The professor paused and then continued speaking with a sense of assurance. "In case you're worried, the transporter can detect whether a transfer will be successful or not, given the range and if the location is allowing for Pokemon transfer at that time. If, for any reason, the transfer cannot be completed, it will display an error message and will not allow your Pokemon to be sent anywhere." The old man then smiled as he handed the machine over to Gaius, who quickly stuffed the transporter into his backpack. The professor turned and began to walk away from the trainer, until he quickly put his hand to his forehead and shook his head. He then opened the second drawer on his desk and pulled out a small, black object. "I almost forgot, I was able to set up my machine to create a black Pokedex for you as requested. This has the same capabilities as the red one I showed you earlier, however I added a slight modification that I already planned to add in my future Pokedex designs. Your Pokedex can wirelessly receive information from other regions if it detects a Pokemon that is not already in its Kanto-based database. It will then keep and store the newly acquired data onto its hard drive so you can recall the information at any time. Although you could technically download all of the regions information at once, it would be best to not overtax the device if you can avoid it." The professor then handed Gaius the black Pokedex and then continued speaking. "Feel free to call me anytime if you need help or want to transfer a Pokemon. I'll keep good care of your Blaziken, Beldum, and the other Pokemon that you're leaving here. Take care Gaius, and good luck in your journey." Professor Oak then smiled as he bade the trainer farewell.

"Thanks for all of your help professor," Gaius replied. He quickly recalled his Munchlax and readied to walk down the stairs and exit the building. The young trainer exited the laboratory and then began to walk down the road out of Pallet Town with his Pikachu steps behind him.

Afterward: Please review and follow/favorite if you like. I'm sorry if this chapter was a bit large, I couldn't think of any good ways to split it up.


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